SonRise Community Church Morning Sermons

Not Neglecting the Assembly

I don't know how you all came in to church this morning, but I came in provoked. I was provoked this morning, and no one else was here to provoke me. Let me explain. It's been a joy and a pleasure and part of just routine for me to get here on Sunday mornings between 5 and 6 a.m., and so I'm here first, right, so who provoked me, I'll tell you. I park out there, right, in the field, and I never walk in between the bushes. There are spaces between them, but what's between them always? Spider webs, right? No, no thanks. I can deal with lots of things, not a fan of spiders. So I go around, I walk by the dumpster, but it just so happens that there is a tree limb out there. I'm trying to raise those up now, but it's getting a little too close to the ground, and sure enough, there was a web going from the bottom of this limb to the ground, and not just like, you know, you walk through some spider webs, and it's like, oh, that's annoying. It's like, you know, it feels soft, right? It's like cotton candy strung out too long. It's sticky, gross, right? This felt like fishing line, and it was not just a strand here or there. It enveloped my head, like it was every strand on it. I walked through a nest, I felt like, and sure enough, it's pitch black, right, and I'm holding stuff, I drop everything, and you know, when you see people in public who just walk through a spider web, it looks funny, because you can't see the web, and you just see them freaking out. Well, that's what I was doing at like 5.30, right there by the dumpster, and I knew only a big spider can make a web that feels like fishing line. And so I'm walking in, and I'm looking around, and I'm like, where is this thing? I don't find it. I come in here, put down my stuff, try not to freak out, you know, but I'm itchy everywhere, right? This just happens when you think about this stuff, and I go into the bathroom, like, I'm going to find this thing. I turn on the light, and immediately, dangling outside my shirt, which was untucked at the time, was the spider coming out of my shirt from the inside. Yeah, and so I was like, woo! That's what I did, and it was like the size of a quarter, almost. Oh no, and I just went, boo! So I was provoked on the way in. Spiders. No, no, no, no, nope, didn't happen. But then I sat down at my desk, and started looking over things. I always leave the conclusion of the sermon until early morning, so I'm sitting there looking through stuff, and I look, I see movement over to my left. On the ground, there's a bigger spider than this thing, it's like half dollar size now, on the ground, just like. We looked at each other in like a standoff like this, and I was like, what is happening today? And then I went to go, like, get it, and it's behind my shelves somewhere now, in there. No, I couldn't find it. It's on the chairs somewhere, just so you know. But needless to say, I was provoked on the way in here. Why share this? It's crazy what happens when we walk into church sometimes. But in our passage today, how's the segue going to happen here, right? We are called to provoke one another in all the good ways. Not in any bad ways. We are to be this for one another. How? By attending church. So many of you know, some of you are first time today, maybe you don't know, we are breaking our current sermon series going through Exodus, and we are now looking at Pasco. Not the county, but each letter stands for these various disciplines in the Christian life. And today we come to the A, attend. So the point is very simple today. You should attend church. And you all get it, because you're here, right? Praise God for that. You at home, everybody turn around, look at the camera. We're all talking to you. You're not alone. not here, please let's see you next week, yeah? This is for all of us by way of reminder and you at home to get away from home and to come here. Now, I want to look in to Hebrews chapter 10 verse 19 to 25. In this passage, there is so much richness, but the final point, the final point in view, there's a therefore in verse 19 marking a huge shift, a mention of our great privileges in Christ and then a mention of three duties that we must give ourselves to as Christians because of our great privilege in Christ. Notice what completes the list in verse 25, do not neglect gathering together. Now, I could, right, choices are available. I could just focus on verse 25 and like browbeat you all about attending church. You should be at church, right? I'm not going to do that. I do want the weight of church attendance to land on you and the burden of it to burden you, the glorious burden of coming with the church and doing life with the church anytime the doors are open, yes. But verse 25, there are 24 verses before it. And in context for us, it is the end of an argument that begins at verse 19. I am convinced that you will get the weight of do not neglect the assembly of God's people. If you see it in flow of the argument rather than just picking it out of its context because a passage only has meaning in its context. So that's where we're headed this morning, hoping to provoke you in all the right ways. Two headings as we go through it, you'll see it on the back of the bookmark. It's a very detailed bookmark today, an outline. There's main points, minor points, but notice the two main ones. First, our privileges in verse 19 to 21. Second, our duties in verse 22 to 25. Let's start first, our privileges. Verse 19 to 21, Hebrews 10 says this, therefore brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is through his flesh and since we have a great priest over the house of God. Let's just stop there. Don't you love how verses sometimes interrupt sentences? Let's look at our privileges, but first notice, what does verse 19 begin with? Therefore, this lets us know that a shift is now happening. Generally speaking, I can say from Hebrews chapter 1 verse 1 to Hebrews 10, 18, the majority, most all of those verses are a rich theological explanation and exploration of why Jesus is better than everything that has come before. He's better than the old covenant in the new covenant. He's better than the old priesthood, being the priest. He's better in his atonement. In his atonement, his cross does what the law cannot do. That's what this first section says. In verse 19, the author wants us to know that all that doctrine is not just a mere intellectual exercise. Yes, we need to know God rightly, and that's what that helps us do, know God rightly. But here, there's a shift to here's how we know God rightly to here's how we live for God faithfully. So all this doctrine doesn't just transform the mind, it's meant to transform the life. Well, how does this doctrine change us? Our Privileges (v19-21) The author will tell us by our privileges. Verse 19 to 21 has two of them. They both begin, notice, since we have. Since we have. There's no if in this text. Do we know the difference between if and since? If there's possibility in view. This might be true of you, it might not. Since certainty is in view. This is true of you. So these are our great privileges. There are two of them. See the first one in verse 19 and 20. Since we have access. This first privilege is all about access. To understand the words that are used here, we need to understand something of the Old Testament. usage of these same words. Back then, access to God's presence, we can generally say, was severely restricted. Only once a year on the Day of Atonement and only the high priest could enter in beyond the veil into the most holy place by the blood of sacrifices. Sacrifices first for his own sins, sacrifices for the sins of God's people. This curtain and veil then was a block that separated the priest in the most holy place and the people outside of God's presence. The veil and curtain was a visual reminder of how distant God was from his people. But hear it, everything changed with Jesus. There's a sermon of itself in there, right? But Jesus. Everything changed with Jesus. It's the whole message of our faith, isn't it? That through the work of Christ, the way that was now shut is now open for anyone to come to the Father through the Son, by the Son. We can come. The tearing of the veil at the crucifixion from top to bottom, symbolizing from heaven to earth, the way is now open back to God through the Son. Look at how these verses talk about this, right? When we study scripture we should not only mention what is said, we need to understand how does it say what it says. In verse 19 to 20 it says, we can draw near confidently by the blood of Jesus. So it's not our own works that we can come to God, but only by the blood. His blood makes a way by cleansing us from sin and making us acceptable to God in his sight. It also mentions that we have access. This way is called new and living. The new and living way. Why is it new? It's new not just because it's not old. I mean, that is true. That's like, you know, low-hanging fruit right there. It's new because it supersedes the old. It surpasses the old. The old covenant had a glory. Jesus has greater glory. This is the new way. But it's not just new. Part of its greatness is it's the living way. Why is this the living way? Well, the Christ who died and shed his blood is also the Christ who rose. And every dead sinner that comes to the Christ who rose, also in Christ, has a resurrection of their own. He makes the dead alive. So this is the new and the living way. The phrase, through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, it says, refers to Christ's body. His body, broken for us, was the means by which the barrier between God and us was removed. So for all those who believe in Jesus, his death is the way to life. His death is the way to life. We now have access. We have access. We can now approach with confidence. That's one of the key words here. Does this describe you? Are you confident in your approach to God? Not talking about a swagger or a strut in yourself, but confident in someone else's work for you. This is how Christians approach God through the Son. Privilege one, since we have access. Notice now verse 22. Privilege two, since we have an advocate. This second privilege is all about advocacy. Here we see more of the glory and the beauty of Christ. He, unlike the priests of old, Jesus is our eternal, sinless, and perfect priest. This means the very one who opened the heavenly way himself is in heaven himself, as our heavenly priest, working for us still. We know his work on earth, in his earthly ministry, in his living, his dying, his rising, his ascending, but he ascended to a throne where he works still, interceding, praying, pleading for his church before the Father evermore. So on our best days, and on our worst days, we have an advocate. And in our advocate, we have access to heaven. These two privileges then, are our dual source of confidence. Just like opposing that, those two spiders this morning were my dual source of provoking. If another one comes out, let me know. These are our dual source of confidence before God. This does something to us. We've already said it. It makes us confident. If you're confident in your approach to God, praise God. You know this. You know your subjective experience ebbs and flows and rises and falls, but you know objective truth is greater than what you feel, than what you experience, that you can bank a life on this. And so when you come before God, you come, and you're like, I'm home, let's talk. And you commune with the King. But not all of you do this. You come with shame and with guilt. And you come timidly, not sure if you'll be welcome or not. If that's you, I'd encourage you to remember the song we sang this morning, specifically the third song, before the throne of God above. When Satan tempts me to despair and tells me of the guilt within, upward I look and see him there who's made an end of all my sin. That can make you confident. When you look at yourself, if you're looking rightly, and if you look long enough, you will find thousands of reasons to be disappointed with yourself. But if you look to Christ, you'll find millions of reasons to be confident in your approach to Him. This is what's in view. We have privileges as His sons and daughters. We have access because of our advocate. That's how the passage begins. And it's curious it begins like that, because really, verse 19 to 22 is a summary of the entire beginning of the book of Hebrews. Now we turn. As great as those privileges are, those privileges demand much of us. They lead to duties, three of them. So let's look at that now, our second heading, it's where we'll lean in the most of our time. Hebrews 22 to 25, our duties. Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, there it is, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day drawing near. So the privileges are established, and each of them began with, since we have. Our Duties (v 22-25) We now come to our duties, and notice each of them begin with, let us. I call them duties, they're really commands. They're more than invitations. They're more than duties. These are what we're, this is what we're called to live like. Let us, there are three of them, see the first duty. Let us draw near. This is the immediate and personal response to our great privileges in verse 19 to 21. If we get and understand all the goodness and richness and the robust security that we have in Christ, what's our response? We're rushing to the throne. We will want to draw near to God. This is what Christians do. They want to be near to God. So to draw near means actively, intentionally, living near the Lord. But notice if you look closely at verse 22, it defines how we're to draw near. It gives us three descriptions of what we're to draw near like. Notice first, we draw near with a true heart, a true heart. What is a true heart? Well, it's not a false heart. That might be easy to say. But we could say, sincerity is in view here. A genuineness is in view here. That in our inner life, our spirituality, it must have an integrity about it. An authenticity that when we draw near, we put away hypocrisy. We put away deceit. We come as we truly are. This pleases the Lord. And second, we draw near in full assurance of faith. Just like confidence before, now assurance here. What kind of assurance is in view? Tiny assurance, little bit of assurance, full assurance of faith is in view. This means it's not a timid approach and we draw near to God, but one that's marked by gladness and certainty. Again, when we look at ourselves, we have thousands of reasons why we should be lost. When we look at Jesus, we have millions of reasons why we can never be lost. This gives us assurance. We draw near in that heart. Third, we draw near with our hearts sprinkled clean and our bodies washed. This imagery, of course, does not come from the Baptist denominations because there's a sprinkling mentioned. Some of you got that. This imagery comes from Old Testament purification rites. As the Old Testament high priest would come in on the day of atonement to the most holy place, he would sprinkle the altar with blood to signify atonement being made. Then after that, as Moses comes out, chapter nine talks about this in Hebrews. As Moses came out to the people to ratify the covenant, to affirm it, you are in covenant Israel with God. He took blood and sprinkled it on the people saying, you are forgiven, you are his. This is what's in view here. For us, we can say it's a greater than those things because it's the blood of Christ. The blood of Christ that washes us, white as snow, renewing us and cleansing us by getting rid of all our sins. Then we see the washing of our bodies with pure water. It points not merely to baptism, but we can say it points to that which baptism points to, right? You follow me there? This is not baptism in view. It's what baptism points to is what's in view. An outward washing that preaches a sermon about inward cleansing by the blood and filling of the Holy Spirit. We draw near to God with hearts sprinkled clean and bodies washed. What effect does this do in verse 22? It cleanses the conscience. You see that? You know that little voice that never shuts up? That voice that always tells you how horrible you are, that you can do better. Try harder, you bum. That's the conscience. The blood of Jesus calms the conscience. What a gift we have. So this first duty is a call to come near to God in these ways. But I fear that maybe you don't understand what's going on here. Drawing near to God is not something that some Christians do and some Christians don't do. You hear me there? This is not a duty that like, oh okay, this is what mature Christians do, I'm just a normal Christian. No, no, no. This is what Christians do. If you're a Christian, you will desire to be near the Lord. How can I say such things? The Old Testament promises in all the promises about the new covenant that this reality will be experienced by those within that covenant. Ezekiel 36 says it like this in verse 26-27, I will sprinkle clean water on you and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses and from all your idols. I will cleanse you. I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you. I will remove the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And notice, I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my ways and to obey my rules. to all those in the New Covenant. All those in Christ. Our Covenant Head. Because His Spirit is within us, what should we find happening? Us walking in His ways and obeying His rules. This type of drawing near to God is promised and realized in everybody in Christ in the New Covenant. So if you're not desiring to draw near to God, you're either incredibly unhealthy as a Christian, and in need of much examination and why you're so hard to these things, or you're not a Christian. Christians want to be near their Lord. So we are commanded to draw near. And when He commands, it is our delight. That's our first duty. Second, let us hold fast. The second duty is in verse 23. And it's true and hits us so powerfully because we live in a world that is constantly trying to wear out our grip. It constantly challenges our beliefs. And so perseverance is important for us. It's massive for us. We are to, quote, hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering what's in view here. What is confession? Hold fast our confession. Hold fast what we believe. This is right doctrine, orthodox truth. This is what we believe. To that, I want to hold fast to that. Without wavering. This is more than merely intellectual work. This is a glorious, stubborn loyalty to Christ that refuses to give up regardless of what the culture is doing. Earlier in Hebrews, the author mentions this in chapter 6 when he says, we have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul. A hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf. And here later, he talks about hope. Hope for us, according to this author, is an anchor. Think about that. Hope as an anchor. No sailor would ever set sail in a ship that had no anchor. Because all seasoned sailors know that when everything else fails and they need to rely on something to keep them steady in the midst of storms, they don't rely on the captain or the crew. They don't rely on the sails or the engine. They rely and look to the anchor that in the midst of a storm can hold them steady. Such is to be our grip on our confession. We're to white knuckle what we believe. But do we have a very strong grip? Maybe for a time we can squeeze it out, right? Look at how verse 23 ends. So glorious. We can hold fast not because we're so strong, but because God is so faithful. This gives us a deep assurance that our hope, that our holding fast on our hope, will never fail. Because yes, we're called to white knuckle our confession of faith, what we believe, regardless what the culture says and progress says this or that. We're to hold fast. But praise God that at the end of the day, we will make it to the end because Jesus has a tighter grip on us than we will ever have on Him. Now we finally come to it. Our A in Pasco. Duty number three. Let us consider. This final duty, we arrive at the attending in our acrostic. And here, notice in verse 24, 25, there's a move, there's another shift from individual discipline to wider community responsibility. Until this point, you can pretty much interpret this individually, individualistically. This is me and God. You get to this verse, that's out. the window. This has to do with all of us now and our vital role that we play in one another's spiritual growth. Look at what it says, let us consider how to stir up one another. Some of your translations say something different. The word stir up in Greek could also be translated provoke. Some of you are really good at provoking other people. I know this, I have been provoked by you and I have provoked many of you. The spiders provoked me this morning and not in good ways. Still, I'm hoping one doesn't come out of my sleeve, right? It's whole family in my shirt, I feel like. This sheds a new light though on what we're to do with one another, right? Provoke one another, not to anger, to envy, to anything evil, but provoke one another to what? To love and good works. Works. We're not saved by our own works. God doesn't need our works, we're saved by the works of Christ, amen? But you know who needs our works? One another. I need your works. Our neighbors need our works. This is what's in view. This implies intentionality, thoughtfulness, and active consideration on how we can grow love in each other, for each other. And this is not just love and a sentimental like, oh I love my church. But it's a love that actively works for one another spiritual betterment, spiritual maturing. How do we do this? How do we do this? How do we provoke one another in this? Or maybe a better question in view of the text is, when should we do this with one another? That's when verse 25 comes in. You see it? When are we to provoke one another? When we gather together. When we gather together. There it is! In verse 25 the author connects intentional provoking for the good of one another with our gathering together. So the call to provoke in verse 24 is to happen, verse 25 says, in our assembled gathering. That's the context in which we are to be positively irritating to one another in all the right ways. Therefore we should not neglect to meet together, as is the habit of some. But encourage one another and all the more as you see the day drawing near. If you've ever wondered, here it is. This is the direct biblical command that you should attend church. This is the direct one. Christians attend church. In other words, no Christian can exist for himself or for herself. Rather we are our brothers and sisters keeper. The word neglecting. What images come to mind? For me, it's my brakes on my car. I hear the squeak. What do I do? Radio up a little bit. Yep, right, that's it. I neglect. To neglect something means to, I'll deal with that later. I'll put it aside, knowing it's important. While knowing it's going to cost me more later on. Neglecting is in view in verse 25. It's a deliberate choice to say no to something not only good, but something that you need to do. A deliberate choice is made. Nope, not for me. Even though you know you should say, yes, that's for me. And notice in this original audience, the church in view here, some were making this choice to neglect to meet together. You know why? It says, as is the habit of some. So some used to be present with this congregation and now they're not. They've made the deliberate choice to neglect gathering together. Begs the question of why? Why are they doing that? Perhaps they've grown indifferent or apathetic. Horrible reasons. Perhaps they got busy with their own affairs, another horrible reason. Perhaps they were afraid of persecution so rampant around this church during the first century. Understandable reason, still horrible reason. Whatever it was, for some reason that made sense to them, they deliberately chose to stop attending church. And what was the result? They missed out being gloriously and godly provoked. And who else missed out? Everyone else missed out on being provoked by them. For His absence means He can provoke no one but Himself. So by being absent, they couldn't play a vital role in anyone else's spiritual growth. They couldn't be positively godly irritating in all the right ways. So then ask the question of you. This was the habit of some. Is it your habit? Is it your habit? Is it growing in that direction? Do you feel like, oh, church is good, but maybe I'll start coming again every week in August when we get back in Exodus. You're silly if you say this, but you're like, oh, Adam's not preaching as much in the summer. That's ridiculous. The elders are pastors. We share authority here. That's not a good reason to not come in the summers. The statistics, too, if you put them together out there, popular statistics, are horrible. Seventy percent of modern Christians do not attend a church regularly. That tells me either they're not Christians or this is the reason why the church is so worldly because the Christians just aren't there. They're out in the world. They're at sporting events. They're fishing. They're doing something else. We all make time for what we think is a priority. This is priority number one. But this begs the question, why have you perhaps neglected the gathering? Perhaps you've grown apathetic and indifferent. Perhaps you've gotten busy with your own affairs. Perhaps you're embarrassed to be a Christian in the modern world. Perhaps you've been hurt by the church. More understandable, but still inexcusable, because remember, from the pastor down to the nursery, there's one type of person in church, sinners. In one sense, church hurt is like, oh, let's work through that. Let's dredge it up. We can deal with it. Let's process. Let's move on. Let's let you come back. On the other hand, I'm like, what'd you expect? Sinners sin. Or perhaps you've grown so cold to the gathering because in private places in your heart, you've grown so warm to sin. And you don't want to come on Sundays and just hear how poorly you're doing as a Christian. Whatever the reason, no reason is good enough. Come back. Come back. No reason is good enough. This is, after all, have we forgotten God's idea? I mean, how kindergarten is that? It's not like the elders got together and we're like, hey, Anthony, David, Sam, let's tell people they should attend church. Oh, yeah, that's good. Let's do it. This is God's idea. It's not ours. And because it's His idea, it demands our attention. When you neglect to gather together, you're not just losing out. All of us are losing out. When you neglect to gather together, you're in sin because this is God's idea. What does repentance look like? Coming back, rejoining into the life of the community. This is a necessity, a means of grace where we are encouraged, instructed, loved, prayed for, held accountable, and bolstered to keep going. So, I mean it when I say it, a Christian who gets our privileges in Christ, unless providentially hindered should be at church every time the doors are open. And if you're not, you're thinking wrong. If you're not, you settled for a lesser Christian life. The church is more the side dish rather than the main course. How can I speak so strongly? You're like, geez, really? Look how verse 25 ends. It like raises the bar another level when it says, and all the more as you see the day drawing near. Don't you love how the word day is capitalized? A day, we are all looking forward to so much. This is the return of Christ. As his return draws near, the logic is our commitment to gathering together grows more intense. When will he return? In the end, right? We're all in agreement on this. Whatever eschatological position you hold to, he returns in the end. Hebrews chapter one has already told us that we are living in the last days where all kinds of challenges will arise for the church, pressuring them to give up their hope and give up their faith lesson. It's now time to raise the bar with commitment to the local church. We are called to this. And so I mean it when I say it, a Christian, unless providentially hindered, should be at their church anytime the doors are open. Not because we're so great, but because we need one another to make it to the end. I wonder if you just have felt this or seen this in the passage today, just take like a, go higher elevation and look at our text. You know why I didn't begin with verse 24 and 25? Well, I didn't want to make you all feel guilty and browbeat you, but also because that's not where the text begins. Where does our passage today begin? It begins with Jesus. It begins with Jesus. The command to gather begins with a Savior whose blood made a new and living way. A Savior who is our advocate and high priest pleading our cause before the Father. Because of that, how then shall we live? We draw near to God, we hold fast to our confession, and we gather together. This is the Christian life. So when the church gathers, we're not merely attending an event, we're responding to what Christ has done and what He is doing, waiting for what He will do. That's the meat and potatoes of our gathering. And every gathering is proof that Christ is still building His church. And every gathering is an opportunity to be positively irritating to one another, provoking one another in all the right ways. As we all, as the church, look forward to the final day when there will be the eternal gathering. On that day, a trumpet will sound, the skies will part, the Lord will descend, faith will become sight, the church that is now scattered in all the nations, tribes, tongues, and languages will gather together before the throne. And on that day, there's going to be no empty seats, there's going to be no missing attenders, and there's going to be no disinterested people just like, when is this over? We will all be feasting before the King for all eternity on that day. This day is a foretaste of that day. Let's get ready for the great day to come. Hebrews says, this day is drawing near. So until that day comes, let's not neglect the gathering. Pray with me. Thank you for listening to the Sunrise Community Church podcast. We pray you are blessed by the preaching of God's Word. If you would like more information about our church, please visit our website at sunrisecc.com. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen. Complete transcription result saved to: /home/ubuntu/upload/Attend_transcription_20260615_151254.json Plain text transcription saved to: /home/ubuntu/upload/Attend_transcription_20260615_151254.txt [2J[H[3Jmanus-speech-to-text --terminal-max-len-single=5000 /home/ubuntu/upload/Attend.mp3 Starting Speech-to-Text conversion... Audio file size (66.6MB) exceeds limit (5MB), downsampling audio file... Source audio bitrate: 192 kbps Bitrate exceeds 128 kbps, downsampling... 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Transcribing chunk 1/9: /home/ubuntu/upload/.Attend_chunks_20260615_150802/chunk_000.mp3 Chunk 1 completed (duration: 323.5s) Transcribing chunk 2/9: /home/ubuntu/upload/.Attend_chunks_20260615_150802/chunk_001.mp3 Chunk 2 completed (duration: 323.5s) Transcribing chunk 3/9: /home/ubuntu/upload/.Attend_chunks_20260615_150802/chunk_002.mp3 Chunk 3 completed (duration: 323.5s) Transcribing chunk 4/9: /home/ubuntu/upload/.Attend_chunks_20260615_150802/chunk_003.mp3 Chunk 4 completed (duration: 323.5s) Transcribing chunk 5/9: /home/ubuntu/upload/.Attend_chunks_20260615_150802/chunk_004.mp3 Chunk 5 completed (duration: 323.5s) Transcribing chunk 6/9: /home/ubuntu/upload/.Attend_chunks_20260615_150802/chunk_005.mp3 Chunk 6 completed (duration: 323.5s) Transcribing chunk 7/9: /home/ubuntu/upload/.Attend_chunks_20260615_150802/chunk_006.mp3 Chunk 7 completed (duration: 323.5s) Transcribing chunk 8/9: /home/ubuntu/upload/.Attend_chunks_20260615_150802/chunk_007.mp3 Chunk 8 completed (duration: 323.5s) Transcribing chunk 9/9: /home/ubuntu/upload/.Attend_chunks_20260615_150802/chunk_008.mp3 Chunk 9 completed (duration: 323.4s) Snippet of transcribed content: Well, I didn't want to make you all feel guilty and browbeat you, but also because that's not where the text begins. Where does our passage today begin? It begins with Jesus. It begins with Jesus. The command to gather begins with a Savior whose blood made a new and living way. A Savior who is our advocate and high priest pleading our cause before the Father. Because of that, how then shall we live? We draw near to God, we hold fast to our confession, and we gather together. This is the Christian life. So when the church gathers, we're not merely attending an event, we're responding to what Christ has done and what He is doing, waiting for what He will do. That's the meat and potatoes of our gathering. And every gathering is proof that Christ is still building His church. And every gathering is an opportunity to be positively irritating to one another, provoking one another in all the right ways. As we all, as the church, look forward to the final day when there will be the eternal gathering. On that day, a trumpet will sound, the skies will part, the Lord will descend, faith will become sight, the church that is now scattered in all the nations, tribes, tongues, and languages will gather together before the throne. And on that day, there's going to be no empty seats, there's going to be no missing attenders, and there's going to be no disinterested people just like, when is this over? We will all be feasting before the King for all eternity on that day. This day is a foretaste of that day. Let's get ready for the great day to come. Hebrews says, this day is drawing near. So until that day comes, let's not neglect the gathering. Pray with me.

Prayer & The Christian Life

This morning, we kick off our new series this summer, Pasco. This series is going to dive in each week to a different element of what we believe is essential in the Christian life, specifically, and all importantly, for the members here at Sunrise. Many of you have gone through a membership class here, if you are a member. You've gone through a class, and we've given you expectations and what we think of members. If you've been at one the last year and a half, Pasco has become a part of what we discuss. It's a lovely little acronym. Nope. Nope. It's an acrostic. Sorry. We clarified that. That was the whole point. It's an acrostic. It's an acrostic to help you be reminded of what it means to live out the faith. What are some of the things that we expect of members to do? What do we expect, ultimately, of Christians to do? These are the seven things ... I know, Pasco's five. That's why we made some fun pieces work together. Two S's, two O's. It's not Pascoo. It's still Pasco. This is what is before us. Over the summer, each of our elders are going to unpack a different one of these elements of the Christian faith to help us dive deeper into how the gospel shapes us and how we're called to live this out together. As we, as a body, live the gospel out week in and week out, these are the seven elements that we feel should be active and growing in your life. Each week, we'll unpack it. Today, we'll start with the foundational one, prayer, because without prayer, the rest of them fall apart. Prayer is where we'll begin. Next week, Pastor Adam will unpack attend. Then we'll talk about serving, studying, community, outreach, and offering. All of these elements, as part of the Christian life. We have a lovely little bookmark out in the foyer, if you'd like to grab that. It has all the weeks and what we're going to be, what the text, or not the text, but what the topic is each week, and a brief summary of what that is and how that affects you as a believer. Be sure. Grab one of those. It's very fun. You can put it in your Bible. You can keep it with you throughout the summer, or beyond the summer, because these are, as we said, these are the marks of what we feel is an essential part of a believer. These are just helpful to keep with you beyond the summer of 26. We're going to keep it more and more in our vernacular. Again, Pasco is what is before us. With that, we begin today with the foundational letter. That is P. Intro: The P in Pasco is prayer. As we begin, what is prayer? Maybe a common question you may ask yourself. What is prayer? If I ask everyone in this room, you may have a different definition. Some of them may have overlaps. Some may be similar. Some may be wildly different. I want to begin with five definitions that we find in roughly reformed church history. Two confessions, or two catechisms, and three quotes. We begin first with the Westminster Shorter, so my Presbyterian friends out there can enjoy this one a bit. Our Presbyterians, with our Shorter Catechism, what you train in the gospel, how you train your children is often most common. They define prayer as an offering up of our desires unto God for things agreeable to his will in the name of Christ with confession of sin and thankful acknowledgement of his mercies. Solid definition. Easy to train and teach children. Heidelberg Catechism, again, each Lord's Day they have a confession of what you would recite when it comes to prayer. This is what they give for the recitation. Prayer is the chief part of the gratitude which God requires of us, as well as the means by which God gives us grace and spirit. Those are two catechisms, again, ways to train people, so things that you would memorize and recite. Historical reformed views. The three reformed definitions, so first John Knox, Father of Presbyterianism, I know, I'm the Baptist quoting Presbyterians, I'm sorry. Father of Presbyterianism in Scotland, so Scottish reformer defined prayer as an earnest and familial talking with God to whom we declare our miseries, whose support helps we implore and desire in our adversities, and whom we laud and praise for our benefits received. Beautiful definition. Calvin, simple, to the point, is the chief exercise of faith by which we daily receive God's benefits, straight to the point. Then Tim Keller, a more recent one, prayer is continuing a conversation that God has started through his word and his grace, which eventually becomes a full encounter with him. So again, Keller highlighting prayer as an outflow of our receiving of God's word and the grace of salvation that then leads us to respond. So each of these are different definitions found within the reformed history over the last 500 years, helping us to unpack and think through what is prayer. So they highlight different things. So some have very lofty, it's the knowledge and celebration of God. Some is the pouring out of our hearts and some just it's the chief end. Like there's just very different elements that people highlight and focus on. All of which are good definitions. They're good places to help us think through. But ultimately each and every one of them have the same theme which it is communicating with God. It is that communion with God. It is a relational aspect of us to God. Each of them have ultimately that heart of us going to God and communicating with Him. And so when we think about this, prayer is one of the single most essential and beginning points of all of Christian life. It's how faith begins. God transforms us, saves us, leads us to repentance and faith which is prayer. Faith begins, okay, through the work of the Holy Spirit that then leads us to repent and believe. We begin the faith in prayer. Communicating with God. His work leads us to that. So communication with God is an active and continual part of the Christian faith. Yet for many they feel dissatisfied with their prayer life. So if I was to ask everyone in this room how many of you feel satisfied with your prayer life? It's a rhetorical question so we don't have to get awkward if we don't want to. So Crossway did a study back in the day, okay, about seven years ago. A massive study on prayer in the Evangelical Church. Okay, they surveyed over 14,000 Christians and asked how satisfied are you with your prayer life? 98% said they are dissatisfied. 98% of believers in the survey were dissatisfied with their prayer life. Of ministers that they surveyed, 84% are very dissatisfied with their prayer life. 72% of those saying that they need and want and yearn to invest more time and consistent personal prayer outside of the pulpit, which is an interesting time. Again, these are statistics. Take them as they will. Statistics are what they are. But I think most of us in this room can probably agree to some extent a feeling of dissatisfaction with your prayer life. I've had many conversations this week on this very topic or in the last few weeks. Several books that I've been reading on prayer highlight this same thing. And of that 98%, going back to that that were dissatisfied with the prayer, 40% of those do say they pray every single day, at least once a day. And yet still there's a dissatisfaction. There's something that they feel they need more of. And what's interesting here is that does highlight for us the reality that dissatisfaction also isn't a bad thing. And that's what I'm hoping to unpack a little bit today, is that in dissatisfaction we should therefore be encouraged to pursue God all the more. That the purpose of the dissatisfaction is to push us more towards God and not away from God. If your dissatisfaction in your prayer life leads you to not pray, then you are misusing this gift. We should see it as an opportunity to be reminded of the grace that's been given to us to pull us closer to God. And so we'll cover this a little bit as we get to the sermon because people have different levels of how they feel dissatisfaction works. But ultimately through a series of conversations there's so many different ways that we could have gone with the topic of prayer. We could do a whole sermon series on prayer. There is so much in the Bible on this topic. Beginning to end, that's why I gave you three texts because I'm going to kind of put together an argument here for us that I think is important for us in beginning and unpacking this series. I want to highlight three key things about prayer. The first being the necessity of prayer. The need for us to be people of prayer. And then from that necessity then becomes the posture or the heart then of prayer. So we agree we need to pray, then how do we pray? What does that look like? Then from that what do we do when we can't pray? So we're talking about the spirit of prayer. These three elements I think help build a foundation for everything that we will unpack over the following seven weeks. Because all of this again flows from the gospel. This is the heart of those who have been redeemed. You've experienced the saving work of Christ. If you've been transformed by his work, the overflow was repentance, which is prayer. And then the continual overflow of that gospel should be prayer. And so I want to unpack that for us today. And so we begin first, as I said, with the necessity of prayer. The Necessity of Prayer This is in 1 Thessalonians 5. So beginning in verse 16 through 18 it says, Christ Jesus. So as Paul is giving here his final instructions before or to the Thessalonian church, he gives them this encouragement that the will of God for them is to rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and to give thanks in all circumstances. He's giving them this charge to think through. This is what the will of God is. That's a bar. God's will for you is to pray continually without ceasing. You can feel how discontent in this can really quickly pop in. I'm clearly failing at the will of God, right? You feel a little bit when you hear that. And that's kind of what he's pushing them to think deep, to dive deeper into their relationship with God. And all of these things are gonna flow from it. So again, as I said, as you pray, you should pray continually in each of these things. As you join together in Sunday worship, prayer should fuel your worship. Okay, prayer should fuel the songs that you sing. Okay, it should fuel the joining with others in prayer. It should fuel the service that you do. If you serve in ministries, it should fuel that. Do you pray before you serve in ministries? Do you pray while you're serving? So those who are at Heather, or not Heather Hill, sorry, Volunteer Way yesterday, was prayer an aspect of that moment? Was prayer a part of what you were doing? Or were you just going through the act? At Heather Hill, is prayer an aspect? When serving in the church, is prayer an aspect of, not that we all sit down and pray, but is prayer a part and a posture of your heart in those ministries? So it's an encouragement that all of these things flow through this continual state of prayer. We must be people that are in prayer because prayer leads us into fellowship with God. It's how we communicate to God. And so it's a key aspect of the whole Christian life because it's the key to a good relationship. So everyone in here who's married, or has been married, or has ever dated someone, or just had a friendship at some point, probably knows foundationally, communication is key. I think everyone who's about to get married and they go into the membership, or their premarital class, and communication will sustain your marriage. You can go, ha ha, we communicate great. And then six months in, you're like, we communicate horribly. Um, don't realize until it starts to break down. But the communication is key. It's not just a slogan, it's a reality though. Communication is how you build life together. It's how you build intimacy. It's how you lay out your burdens for one another. And so there is no substance in a relationship if there's not communication in the relationship. So I use the illustration when my wife and I have been married now for six years. And so what would our marriage be like? What would our relationship be like if all I did was I read her favorite books? I just read her favorite books all the time. Good books, great books, read her books. Check her, make sure her online, just check the updates. See how the Facebook's going. She's having a good day, that's good. I'm glad, I'm glad things are going good. Maybe I'll clean up the house. Make things all nice and pretty around town, make it nice. Maybe I'll just hang out with her on the couch. We'll just sit near each other, it's good. It's good spending good time together, just being present. Maybe, you know, I'll buy her some nice gifts, put it on the table, a nice bouquet of roses. Maybe I'll hang out with her friends. Really like her friends, her friends are cool, most of them. So you hang out with them. No, they are, they actually are great people. They're all in here right now. So not only, I'm just saying, not only, they're great. So that picture, so then you spend time with them. This is great, I really get to know them. I get to experience her through them. What relationship is this? Is this a good, healthy, building relationship? Or am I spending any actual value with her? Because if I never actually talk to her, some of the people in here can get a weird high school vibe here for this. You're not in an actual relationship, you're just stalking people. It's creepy, you should stop it. Your imaginary relationships. But this is ultimately, in some ways, what we do with God. It can very easily become the like, well, I go to church. I was in church today, I was with all of God's friends. I read the Bible, he likes the Bible. I read it, it's got good words. He says cool things in there. I really like his posts, he's really teaching me things. We have this, I did things, I served in the nursery, I went to Volunteer Way, I help, I do all these things. But if there is no prayer, where is the relationship aspect of this between you and God? In the text, the scripture continually calls us to pray. Prayer is a continual reminder from beginning to end. We go back to Genesis. It begins with God in the garden with Adam and Eve. There is communion, there is communication that exists between man and God. We'll unpack the other side when we come to study. We'll talk about God speaking to us through his word, but we're today focusing on. speaking to God. And so this becomes the admonition. Is this a part of our life? Are we growing in our relationship and intimacy with God through prayer? And if not, if this is something you struggle with and you're dissatisfied with, I will say, welcome to the party. 98% of people feel this way. Some will say it should be a hundred, but we will digress for now. But this picture becomes that we know that we need to grow in that. Because the second you become, as I said, content in it, as you feel satisfied in it, is probably when you begin to fall away from it. Again, the same thing with relationship. The second you think that you're communicating well and everything's perfect, you've consented, then just, we achieved it. And then very quickly slide back into exactly the way things were before because you stopped paying attention to it. Because you achieved it, so now it became less of a burden. So scripture, can pray without, continually be in prayer. Just, that is, that is a bar. It's a very high bar and it's calling us to the grace to pursue Him, to continually be in relationship with Him. It's that, unfortunately, we are naturally selfish people. Sin naturally leads us to be selfish. We are self-obsessed. And so even sometimes on prayer, prayer just becomes about us. And just telling God about how great we are, all the things we want, and we don't even acknowledge Him in it. Also, sin, in our self-obsessed nature, can also tell you, you've got this. Don't worry God with that. He's too busy for those things. You've got it. It's not that big a deal because we can handle some things. God doesn't need to handle everything. I've got something. So there becomes, even in that, there's a bit of an arrogance that we don't even naturally realize. It's a humble arrogance. One of the things you learn a lot about is humbleness can actually be pride, if you think about in the wrong way. So it's like, I've got it. And ultimately you're saying because God can't. Whether you realize it or not, or you're wanting to get some type of glory for yourself out of, I accomplished it without God. When ultimately there's nothing that we accomplish without God, even if you think you've done it, it's only God's mercy and grace that cause you to accomplish such things for His will and glory. But we don't think that way. We're seeking our own ends. And so we don't want to make this a habit. We want to make prayer a habit, not ourselves. Okay. That should be our goal. So do we continually push in and commune with God through it all? And it requires time, development, growth. And it requires discipline. Prayer is not a laissez-faire aspect. It requires discipline. It requires being purposeful. And we're gonna unpack this in a minute. Purposeful. Intentional. Seeking to honor God and grow in this. And it requires time. Can you have an active, vibrant relationship with someone you barely talk to? And so it reminds me of one of my closest friends. I'll still say he's one of my closest friends because we've been buddies since we were... I was 14 and he was 15. We grew up in youth group together. That's right. Good old church youth group days. Playing some 007 on a N64 because we're old. Because that's not a lie either. So that's just the picture of we've known each other a long time. And throughout high school and college we probably spent every single day together. So there was a group of five of us. Every single day we probably spent together. Especially in college. High school, a little bit different. But at college, every day we hung out. We knew everything about each other. Ins, outs. People may have said we're a little codependent. I don't know. It's college. But that was just we lived life together. We spent time together. We prayed together. We did work together. We just spent all... If you asked us anything about someone in our group, we knew everything. We knew exactly what they were struggling with and knew what their hang-ups were. We knew everything. Because we spent that much time together. Now fast forward. He went off to... I went to college or I went to seminary in North Carolina. He went up to firefighting Academy out in Fairfax, Virginia because he wanted to be fancy that way. We grew up. We became adults. Went in different directions. We speak twice a year. Darn bad. He was in my wedding. I did his wedding. We've known each other for a long time. Like I said, we talked twice a year. Probably four or five hours. Long conversations. Cover everything that's happened that year. Mostly the highlights. And then we keep track of each other online. That's how we know most of what happens in each other's lives. And then we talk about some of the big stuff. And if anything major comes up, we usually talk then. But most of the time it's just highlights. It's house things. Oh you're doing great. You guys are doing... That's so great. When are you retiring? Because you get the fancy firefighter life and retiring at like 50. Congratulations. But it's just like what are your plans? What are your guys' next plans? Oh you guys are gonna... Oh that's so cool. What we're doing here. It just becomes very quick. Four hours quick. But you're summarizing in six months. But it goes... We pick up kind of... where we left off, but also where you left off was not that much different from two years before, which isn't that much different than three. A lot of life has actually happened in that time period. Many of you who have high school, college friends who you do this with understand this. You're not really unpacking most of what's going on in life. You're giving highlights, you just, because it's like, oh, it's great to talk to you, that's awesome, I'm glad we're still connected. But what's really going on, like, oh, we're really struggling with this, this, and this, I'm having a hard time at work with like, those aren't things that come up, we ain't got time for that. I'm not gonna talk to you for six months. It tends to become very surface level. Because familiarity over time, and again, it's 20 years, time changes. And even again, when we first moved away, we talked a lot more often, and then life changes. And then you get 20 years down the road, and it's two times a year. Like, it's just the natural ebb and flow. But unfortunately, the familiarity that you still hold on to as if we're still the same people we were when we were 18. We're very different people than when we were 18. But there are times that if we're together, it feels like we're 18. It's sad. I think many of you also identify when you hang out with your high school, college friends that way, if you do that. It's, haven't quite grown up sometimes. That's an aside, I'm sorry. So as we get through it, this becomes this picture, though, of sometimes, even in our own relationship, with those in this room, maybe you've walked with God for a long time, and you first came to faith, and you had that vibrant relationship. You had that vibrant prayer. You were always praying. You experienced the grace of God. You started down this path, and you needed God. You felt that need continually. Oh, he saved me. Oh, let me dive into his word. Let me read what he said. Let me respond to what he said. Like, that overflowing daily, and then over time, they said you got comfortable. Becomes a little less. Life becomes a little more important. Like, that is, that becomes the picture of other things block out more and more of your time. That God becomes more and more an afterthought, and that relationship begins to change, becomes less important to you. We lose sight of the call to continually be in communion with God, to continually be people of prayer. And so, Thessalonians, Paul gives us that admonition not to forget this is the will of God for you, is to pray always, to continue in prayer. Is prayer a daily, continual aspect of your life? And I think we can all agree that it should be. Okay, I think we can all agree we should be people of prayer. But then, what do we do? So what does it look like? Okay, let's say yes, we need to pray more. Okay, so how do we pray? The Posture of Prayer Okay, and then Matthew is where we turn, as Jesus then, in his Sermon on the Mount, gives the disciples what it means to pray. So we have this picture of what then does it mean to pray. And so, as Jesus has been unpacking all these different truths, he's been giving them this understanding. Again, when we see Luke's telling of this in a different way, you have that picture of the disciples asking him how we should pray. In Luke, or in Matthew's account here on the Sermon on the Mount, we have this sermon telling of how we should pray. And so, begin in verse five, it says, and when you pray, not if you pray, when you pray, okay, in this admonition to those who are listening, the disciples and all the crowd here at the Sermon on the Mount, when you pray, your natural state of being, continually, must not be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward, but when you pray, go into your room, shut the door, and pray to your Father who is in secret. Your Father who sees in secret will reward you. And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask. And so, as we see here, we see this posture of prayer, this heart of prayer that Jesus gives to those, the disciples and those here on the Sermon on the Mount, which ultimately is answering, how then do we pray? How are we supposed to pray? Big question with a simple answer. So he highlights it with two heart postures, if you will, two mental points of going to God. And the first is that prayer isn't about you. Okay, so prayer isn't about making much about you. Okay, so he begins with the Pharisees and the hypocrites, those who pray with lofty words to be seen by others. Okay, as a minister, it is very awkward sometimes to pray in public, because then people will thank you and tell you how great it was, and then it's just awkward and creepy. It just is. I prayed once for a Thanksgiving meal and people applauded and it was a weird moment for everyone. They were not Christians just so we're aware it was a moment But it's like that's not what that's supposed to be about We're missing the heart But if that is the point if the point is just so that people will talk about man that guy can pray It always feels weird when people will talk about like, oh, I remember listening to blah blah he could pray like no one else and it's like But then can he pray like Because do we really know their hearts and prayers of the Saints or do we just know how eloquently we can speak up here? So we should not judge people's prayer lives based on what we can do in public Nor should your prayer life be based on what you can do in public so how great I can pray at a small group or how much people tell me they enjoy my prayers that Defeats what God is talking about. It's where is your heart when it comes in prayer? Does it come in a spirit of humility? Is it about being with the Lord or is it about being showy? Okay is about making much of your need for God or for how much God loves you So these become our heart. So when we come to God, it's not about us Okay, this is the same idea. You love the Good Hope Award Show seasons We get all the great music and movie awards and everyone begins with I'd like to thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ Because without him I could not have accomplished all this thing And now for the next 30 seconds before they walk me out I'm gonna talk about great I am and how amazing I am It's like yeah, but I gave Jesus the nod at the beginning. So the rest is fine Like that's kind of the way it's treated. And this is what that is not an accurate reflection of Transformation by the gospel leading to humility and recognizing God as the source of all these things God is the one who has changed you who has transformed you who has given you the life that you have and so when we pray it is a Relationship between us to him and so he uses the idea of pray in secret Okay, go into your room and close the door Okay, he's not literally meaning that you can only pray in a closet in the dark The picture here is that we are praying in a secret sense. We're not praying for other people For the sight of other people you should be praying for other people But that picture is that you're not okay making much of how great you are But rather you're humbling yourself before God in prayer to him alone We aren't here for the crowd. The second thing is to be purposeful in prayer so we come to God in a humility, okay a heart posture of humility not to be made much of and also we come with Purpose. Okay, as it says don't heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do for they think they'll be heard for their many words The picture here is just rambling hoping to get across that God will be like, that's cool They talked to me for five seconds today didn't really say anything but just ramble away or just empty Recitation. Okay, we love some good written prayers. I'm not against we're in prayers We just did one from one the Gibson liturgies highly highly recommend some pre-written Devotional prayer life Valley of Vision fantastic every moment. Holy we just gave Aiden one of the copies They have a whole series their prayers for just everyday life again the Gibson liturgies There are different ones for different seasons entire worships for a family worship Phenomenal works, but if all they exist to do is to give you information That is not very helpful to your spiritual life Or if they're just there for you to blandly and mindlessly recite them as if you're praying you again have nullified The purpose of them there to draw us into God that we read and understand and join in these prayers of old That it's not mindless recitation that it's purposeful Just as when you sing the Psalms the Psalms are prayers When you read them, are you just reading them for pure knowledge when you recite them? Are you just reciting them because you're supposed to recite them or do you connect and actually pray the words that are on the page? You this is literally what I want to tell God in this moment Very much can think of it Sometimes you got to write out Like you got a big thing to tell your spouse or a friend or a little you write it down So you make sure you say exactly what you want to say Especially if you have a tendency to go off base like I do you want to be intentional in this moment So you're gonna write it down. So it's very intentional because you're gonna say 90 other things. You don't want to say That's what a pre-written prayer helps do helps focus you Okay, that is one way to be purposeful, but you can also be purposeful in long wandering prayers You can wander around if you're a wandering person. Not everyone is we live in Florida. We got lots of nature some people become wanderers or our commuters that enjoy a good hour on the road opportunities to take the most use of God's time and pray and Using that time to be purposeful of what things come to your mind while you're driving. What are the things the Lord is instructing? What are things that just you think about? Okay, sometime that's listening music. And what does the Lord put on your heart and pray and respond and think about just thinking? Through your week, there are different things you can pray about work, family, friends, your small group members, your church families. We are called to pray. Again, one of the expectations in prayer is that we're praying for one another, okay, that we're using the time that God has given us wisely to commune with him. One of the great things about being in nature and praying and walking, if that's your thing, is just even celebrating all that God does around you. You just see his work even in nature and are astounded by how much he cares for even the simplest of things. Again, Jesus uses all these illustrations. How can you talk about the love God has for a sparrow if you've never seen his love for a sparrow? If you don't see these things, you don't appreciate the vastness of God's work. Same if you're not in each other's lives, it's hard to pray and celebrate God's vast work if we're not invested in one another. So this becomes this call to pray well, and so I said it looks different for everyone. Some it is. 4 a.m., you wake up, it's the first thing you do, you pray. You may set the coffee timer, get it going, you pray. Others it's you have an hour in the afternoon drive and you pray. You have all these different times, but you're purposeful and it's intentional. What am I praying for today? What am I thinking about? What are things God has laid in my heart that I need to express to him? And we intentionally then go to him with these things. Don't keep them inside yourself. Don't keep them inside your head. Tell them to the Lord. Don't just use random babble. Be purposeful, be intentional so that we pray well and be honest and spend a good amount of time with the Lord as he has given you. So use the time he has given you wisely. And so we have these points. So we are to pray without ceasing. We're to pray purposefully and humbly, seeking to make much of God. But there does come times in our lives we can be honest. It's just hard, especially in the midst of suffering. Not that it's hard to pray, but it's hard to find words to pray. What do I ask for? What do I pour out my heart to God for? You feel a little like Job sometimes. Job's prayers are ultimately spurred by annoying friends that are dumb, but it leads to a sense of prayer. There are times you just don't know what to say. And so Romans gives us this encouragement in every season. Even in the midst of our dissatisfaction, there is a reality that God is at work, that God is working still, and he hears us. The Spirit of Prayer So as we get to Romans 8, 26 through 28, that's our last passage, as we look at the spirit of prayer, or the spirit in prayer, if you will. For Romans, Paul is going to give us one more encouraging admonition. I think Romans 8 is one of the most encouraging passages in all of Scripture. We can debate it all day long. I personally love this passage, as it gives us this encouragement of the future glory in Christ, the life and the spirit, and just the everlasting work of God. And so when we get to Romans 8, 26 through 28, we're starting to look at that idea of we know that there are times that we want to pray. We know we need to continually be in prayer. We understand what Paul says in Thessalonians. We understand the heart of prayer that Jesus is pointing out. Okay, so we have to have a heart of humility. We need to be purposeful, but sometimes it's just hard. And so we have the encouragement of Paul again, likewise, it begins. This is probably one of the most encouraging texts on prayer, because A, it highlights for us the fact that there are seasons where it's hard, but as we come to God, we know that God is praying for us. The spirit is interceding to God for us. It's an encouraging reality. But also we know as we pray, God is the one at work. Even in our broken prayers, he is the one doing all things for our good. Too often, I think we disconnect, Matt, the end of this, 8, 28, from the context of 26 to 28. So great, it's an encouraging verse. It's absolutely true on the sovereignty of God, but it's also a sovereignty of God connected to prayer. It's an encouragement in prayer that God works all things to good for those who love God and are called according to his purpose. Prayer is pushing us into that will. It's encouraging us to stand fast in the midst of these truths, especially when life is hard. Especially when you feel like you don't have words to say. You don't know how to come to God because things are just so broken. Or the other side, you've been gone so long you don't know how to come back. And so we pray. And one of the things that's key here is this doesn't become absent-minded. Now you can also go the Spirit prays for you no matter what and then people don't pray at all. Well, God's got it, so I'm good. It's not what Paul is encouraging, it's rather that in the midst of our unknowing how to pray, we are still seeking God in prayer. We may not have the words. We definitely think we're saying the wrong words, that's usually it. But the Spirit knows the hearts of the saints and prays for us, prays to the Father on our behalf. That's one of the beauties of the fact that we have the Psalms of Lament in Scripture. If you weren't here on Sunday evening last week, I would encourage you to go listen to the sermon that Pastor Adam did on the Psalms of Lament. They make up a little less than half of the entire book of the Psalms. And these are the Psalms of just the saints pouring out their hearts to God. Just in the brokenness of life. These are songs, so all the Psalms are prayers, Psalms are simply prayers that are written. They highlight the reality of sorrow, loss, honesty, sadness, loneliness, perplexity, grief, abandonment, fear, anger. All these things are found in Psalms. All these are words written to God in the midst of issues that people are dealing with. Some of them kind of scare people at times if you read them. They feel like things you shouldn't say to God. And again, the wonderful Spirit of the Spirit is the one who prays for us as well, interceding the truth. So I go Psalm 88 is one of my favorite Psalms. There's a sermon on it. You can go on our website. It is posted there. Then I preached on this several years ago. It is also probably one of the darkest Psalms. It begins with the, I cry out to my Lord and God day and night. That is the last mention of God in the rest of the verse. And it ends with darkness is my only friend. This is in the Bible. I'm not making it up. That is in the Bible. But it's the reality of the fact that he cries out to God day and night. Still suffering, the suffering hasn't shifted, but his heart continues to seek God even when nothing makes sense. The beauty is in the first line and the fact that he can pour out to God like things don't make sense. Everything seems bad. I have no friends. Darkness is all that's left to me, but I'm still going to go to you because who else do I go to? Again, it reminds you a little bit of Peter. When all the disciples were leaving, where will you go? Will you abandon me too? And Peter says, where shall we go for you have the words of life? A picture of where else can I turn to but to you? And even when I don't know what to say, I know that you are good and that you hear me and that you care for me. And so all these Psalms are echoing Paul's saying, we go to God in our struggles. We go to God, even when it's hard, knowing that he hears us because he cares for us. Again, Christ died for us. That is not a light reality. It's like, oh, the son of God will die for us, but man, he does not want to hear about your problem. And it's just says, just figure it out yourself, man. Come on. But it's ludicrous if you actually think about it, but the reality is God cares for us. God wants us to pray to him. Even if you don't have the words, seek him, even if that's in the silence, just press all the more further into him, allowing that discontentment to fuel prayer, to fuel your need for him and be reminded of his love for you. It's a call to press more and more into the spirit. And again, and as it ends, knowing that he will work all things out to your good, not in some prosperity gospel that everything will be happy, but that your eternal good is accomplished through God's work. So we align ourselves to him through prayer. Prayer helps us all the more to see God at work. It's a lot easier to see the answer to prayer when you're praying. You're aware of it. You're knowledgeable of it. You're seeking him and trusting him through the work. And so all of these things, our need and necessity to be in prayer, the heart of prayer, the posture that we put before God, and ultimately, as I said, this end of knowing that the spirit prays for us when we can't, should be an encouragement this year as we press through our sermon series to continue to grow in this endeavor, that we grow in prayer through each and every one of these aspects. For prayer is the foundation by which we grow as a believer. And each of these things then adds to it. And so as we conclude, as we think about again, this pushing through discouragement and discouragement leading us to grow in our faith. I want to leave you with four admonitions. These were four admonitions in a book that I've just recently finished reading. It was just, you know, God works all things to the glory of his own time, eh? I just finished reading this last week. Four admonitions, it's from an American minister in Lithuania, and these are his four concluding thoughts when thinking about his own dissatisfaction in his prayer life. My dissatisfaction, thinking about it and what the Lord used it for. So it said, your lack of proficiency and constant struggle in prayer helps you to focus and be mindful that prayer, like everything else in the Christian life, is based solely on the grace of God. That God's grace is what has saved you, is what God's grace that sustains you. So even as you struggle in prayer, it's just like every other aspect of the Christian life, it's an opportunity to grow in the knowledge and grace of the Lord. God is not up there upset that you did not pray today. Just waiting there with a lightning bolt, just as if he's some capricious God that is easily upset by your whims, as if he is not the one who's created you, knows you, it's an opportunity to lean more and more into the grace of God, not to abuse the grace of God. And so in this, lean further back in. Second, it's coming to terms with the fact that there are deficiencies, that there are areas that I do not pray well in, gives rooms to relax for those who are anxious and feel shame for those deficiencies. So failing in a prayer should not lead you to shame, it should lead you more to the gospel. Okay, so it's by knowing the fact that I am not alone, this is ultimately what this whole paragraph then becomes, ultimately knowing that I'm not alone in these struggles allows me to relax and then push further into Christ. Okay, rather than feeling shame about it as if I'm the only one and then I'll sit in my corner and be all mopey about the fact that I don't pray enough and then because I'm upset that I don't pray enough, I still don't pray because I'm really thinking about how bad I don't pray rather than praying when that's actually a moment to start praying. See how it works? We cycle in on ourselves in very negative ways. And so he highlights, knowing it relaxes me in those moments, I go, oh, it's an opportunity to pray rather than to think about myself more. Okay, and then seeing ourselves, okay, seeing the reality that people all struggle with prayer helps us to challenge that we may not have a good judge of what prayer is. Okay, so point being is do not judge your prayer life based on everyone else's prayer life because A, you may have no idea what anyone else's prayer life is. And B, just because people tell you their prayer life is one way does not mean that's actually what their prayer life is, just an admonition. Prayer life that we can bank on is the prayers as it's described in scripture. Okay, I can give you an admonition, I can give you an encouragement, but at the end of the day, it's the Lord that will grow us. And the only true standards that we have are the standards presented in the scriptures, not based on anyone else creating them for you, okay? And if you wanna know, the standard was to pray without ceasing. So it's a high bar, okay? But to push us into Christ more and more, okay? Because failure, it says, points you back to the gospel. Okay, each of these are opportunities to point you back to the salvific work of Christ because it reminds us we cannot do it on our own. We have not saved ourselves, we cannot sustain ourselves. Okay, it is the gospel at work in all of these things. It's what grows us in our relationship to God. And his final admonition is the great reminder, prayer is one of the most difficult things we can do. And it's meant to be, for it forces us back to God day by day. Forces us back to God. It reminds us of our need to be in community with him. We must seek him. We must pour out our heart for him. We must lay down our burden at his feet because he is the only one who can truly satisfy. He is the only one who can heal. He is the only one who can change us. He is the only one who can mold us more and more into the image of his son. The rest is just a window dressing without it. We need him. And so as we conclude, that's the encouragement. And so as we go into summer, that you will grow in prayer, that you will make prayer a priority. Day by day, growing a little bit at a time. And then as we unpack each of these other six areas of life in church and community, that you'll see how prayer fuels all of these things. Prayer fuels how we live out the faith because prayer finds its root in the gospel in responding to that all the more. For you've been saved by faith and it's God who's transforming you. And in that, we thank him, we pray to him, we lay down our burdens at his feet.

A Solemn Meeting

Did any of you come in here this morning fearful, frightened, or with a sense of great dread? Most all of you, would answer no to that question. But, what would you think if I said that to be afraid would be a good way to enter the worship of God? Think of this. On one hand God is transcendent. For God to be transcendent means He is beyond anything we can ever imagine, He is bigger and grander, and wholly other than all else as God over all. Psalm 145 says this plainly, God is great, and His greatness is unsearchable. On the other hand God is immanent. For God to be immanent means God is near, close, concerned about all things, and intimately involved with all He has made. Truly, God is transcendent and immanent. So the presence of God is both frightening and fascinating, dangerous and delightful.[1] Yet, while the Church throughout history has affirmed both Gods transcendence and immanencewe live in an age and culture that emphasizes Gods immanence to the neglect of His transcendence.[2] What does this do to us? It causes most of us to come into worship casually, as if were walking into Gods living room rather than coming into worship reverently, as if were coming before His throne. Why begin with this today? Because our passage this morning, Exodus 19:7-25, will remind us who God is in His transcendent greatness, and it will force to ask the question of whether or not we are far too comfortable as we worship Him. Last week we began Exodus 19, looking at v1-6, and saw the beauty of covenant. God Himself entering into covenant with Israel, promising that He would be their God and that, if they kept His covenant, that they would not only be His people, but be His treasured possession, a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation. Well, after such a glorious moment in v1-6. We turn today to see the rest of the story in v7-25. See our first heading Preparing to Meet the Lord (v7-15) So Moses came and called the elders of the people and set before them all these words that theLordhad commanded him.All the people answered together and said, All that theLordhas spoken we will do. And Moses reported the words of the people to theLord.And theLordsaid to Moses, Behold, I am coming to youin a thick cloud, thatthe people may hear when I speak with you, and may alsobelieve you forever. When Moses told the words of the people to theLord,theLordsaid to Moses, Go to the people andconsecrate them today and tomorrow, and let themwash their garmentsand be ready for the third day. For on the third daytheLordwill come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.And you shall set limits for the people all around, saying, Take care not to go up into the mountain or touch the edge of it.Whoever touches the mountain shall be put to death.No hand shall touch him, but he shall be stoned or shot; whether beast or man, he shall not live. Whenthe trumpet sounds a long blast, they shall come up to the mountain.So Moseswent down from the mountain to the people andconsecrated the people;and they washed their garments.And he said to the people, Be ready for thethird day;do not go near a woman. After the glorious opening words of v1-6, we see Moses in v7 going back to the people and relaying all of this to them. What does Israel do? They respond in v8 saying, All that theLordhas spoken we will do. Its good to see their response here, isnt it? Theyre eager for sure! But, I think we can also say that they have little idea about whats really going on. Theyre about to find out soon enough, because God is about to visit them. Look at v8b. Moses turns back to God, tells Him of Israels desire to keep the covenant, and what does God say in response? In v9 God says two things. First, He says Hes going to come down in thick cloud. This shows us His transcendence. That He is God Almighty, high and holy. That any time He comes to visit His people, it's always a descent, always a coming down.[3] Yet, how wonderful to see His desire to come down and visit His people. His desire to descend shows us His immanence. Indeed, without His immanence and His coming to us, we wouldnt know Him at all. Second, in v9 God says Hell speak with Moses audibly so Israel will hear it and further believe in Moses leadership. In this we see Gods intention for Israel to trust Moses as their prophet, the one who goes to God on their behalf and comes back to them with Gods Word. God responds to this in v10-15 by giving Moses instructions on how the people are to prepare to meet Him and come into His presence. He is giving them two days to prepare, for God will come down and visit them on the morning of the third day. Look at what kind of preparation God requires of them during these two days. First, the general call to the people is they must consecrate themselves. This word consecrate means to set apart or to make holy or to purify. So the people will be doing the work of consecrating, not preparing some offering or anything else they will bring to this meeting, but preparing their own selves. For this great meeting, they are to be a people prepared by purification. Second, they are to wash their garments. We modern Western people might find a command as this to be foreign to us, but to these Israelites, it wouldve made perfect sense. This ritual is common in the OT before solemn events, and in many cases ones outward cleanliness was symbolic of ones inner cleanliness and readiness to come into Gods presence.[4] Third, boundaries were marked off to keep the people away from the mountain. Why do this? Because the mountain was Gods mountain, He would descend to it, and because He is holy, His very presence would make the mountain holy.[5] Thus, the unholy Israelites needed to be protected from the holy mountain. This was for their safety. So out came the caution tape and the No Trespassing signs around the mountain to keep the people back. We also see the consequences for those who ignore these warnings. The violators, v13 says, will not be touched by anyone but will be stoned or shot with arrows. Fourth, the final detail comes in v15 in the phrase, Do not go near a woman. This is not a general statement instructing Israelite men to avoid Israelite women, but it refers to sexual activity. Some wonder at this comment, thinking its proof that sex is in itself sinful or that sex is an unclean act. A better way to interpret this command is to see it as a call of temporary self-denial, meaning, the people are to put aside regular pleasures in order to prepare to meet with God so they can be entirely focused on God. The people did these things and made themselves ready during these two days, waiting for the morning of the third day when the trumpet blasts.[6] This trumpet is a shofar, an ancient instrument which would become common to Israel. Notice that nowhere does it command anyone to blow a trumpet, it just says one will be blow. That means, I think, the trumpet will be blown in heaven, and it will be loud enough for everyone to hear it, over all the storm. Two practical remarks flow from these requirements of preparation. The first practical remark is this, Israel cannot approach God in any way they so desired. Mention has already been of the age we live in and how the majority of Christians in the West emphasize Gods immanence to the neglect of His transcendence. That Israel could not come into Gods presence any way or at any time they so desired reminds us of the same thing. When we come to God we ought not come with a spirit of casual trivialness. Were sinners! Only because of Christ can we come! Only because He made the way open can we come! We didnt earn it, work for it, or deserve it! Church, kick back against the spirit of the age that thinks such low thoughts of Godand here in this passage be spurred on to think higher thoughts of God. To remember that He is God and we are not, to remember that He is Creator and we are creatures, that He alone is holy and we are sinful. Yes, Christ has made the way open for all who come to God through Him, but we dare not come before God with a casual spirit. Reverence needs to be recovered. That leads me to a second practical remark, which is this, meeting with God demands our preparation.[7] Because God is who God is, and we are who we are, we need to prepare ourselves to meet with God. For far too many, the worship of God in the gathering of the Church has become a common thing. So common that we just waltz in here without giving a thought to whats actually happening. If we would but take a moment before entering in here to remember what were doing, we would be overwhelmed with the magnitude of the moment! That we sinners redeemed by Christ and filled with the Spirit are gathering to worship God, to praise God, to seek God, and to sit at His feet and hear from His Word. The glory of the moment needs to fall on us, and if it does, you know whatll happen? Well find ourselves worshiping God, because we who are redeemed by Christ not only know the greatness of God, we know the goodness of God too. So we come, in awe, we come in fear and trembling, we come in reverent rejoicing. Why? Because this great God has become our Father in the gospel. Its a moment worth preparing for. The Lord Descends (v16-25) On the morning of thethird day there werethunders and lightnings anda thick cloud on the mountain and a very loudtrumpet blast, so that all the people in the camptrembled.ThenMoses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain.NowMount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because theLordhad descended on it in fire. The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, andthe whole mountain trembled greatly.And as thesound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, andGod answered him in thunder.TheLordcame down on Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain. And theLordcalled Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.And theLordsaid to Moses, Go down and warn the people, lest they break through to theLordto look and many of them perish.Also let the priests who come near to theLordconsecrate themselves, lest theLordbreak out against them.And Moses said to theLord, The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai, for you yourself warned us, saying,Set limits around the mountain and consecrate it.And theLordsaid to him, Go down, and come up bringing Aaron with you. But do not let the priests and the peoplebreak through to come up to theLord, lest he break out against them.So Moses went down to the people and told them. The two days of preparation were over, the people were as ready as they were going to be, and the morning of the third day had dawned. And then we see itGod descends on Sinai. When He descended, v16 says, God descended in a storm. Pause right here and ask, have we seen this before? You might think of the Red Sea, or of the plagues against Egypt, but there is another moment when this occurs but you might not have recognized it. Right after Adam and Eve fell into sin Gen. 3:8 says God came to walk in Eden in the cool of the day. The Hebrew phrase there meaning in the cool of the day could also be translated in the wind of the storm.[8] This changes how we view God in the garden, doesnt it? Instead of seeing God as casually walking into the garden calling out for Adam, its a picture of God coming in His stormy presence to meet Adam and Eve in their sin. This is likely another reason why Adam and Eve hid, because they were afraid, just like the Israelites were before the storm of Gods presence at Sinai. In a sense Israel now gets to experience for themselves what Moses experienced on this same mountain long ago before the burning bush.[9] Only a few other times in Scripture does such a scene occur. Here, the Isaiah 6 vision, Pentecost in Acts 2, and the Day of Judgment. This is a short list indeed. Lets see it now. This storm on Sinai had it all.[10] There was thunder and an earthquake to display Gods power. There was a dark cloud to display divine mystery, that there are aspects of Gods nature and being that man can never penetrate. There was fire and smoke to display Gods purity and blazing holiness, which wouldve attracted Israel due to its beauty but terrified Israel due to its danger. And there was a heavenly trumpet which could be heard over it all. This displayed Gods kingly sovereignty, for trumpets announce the coming of a king, and here descending on Sinai is infinite royal majesty. All of this glory put together wouldve frightened and fascinated the Israelites and all their senses and filled them with awe. Because God came down on it, Sinai looked scary, sounded scary, and felt scary, and yetthis was the God who saved them! After they witnessed all of this, God called Moses up to meet Him in v20. And what follows can seem a bit confusing as God and Moses go back and forth. In v21 God warns the people for a second time to not come near the mountain. In v22 God says only the priests who have consecrated themselves can come near and were left wondering who the priests are. That role hasnt really been defined yet, so opinions abound as to who the priests are. I think its the elders Moses just chose to serve with him. But then in v23 Moses seems to remind God of the warnings Hes already given, and God responds in v24 with a third warning to not come near. Three times Israel will hear to not come near lest the Lord break out against them. And in v25 Moses descends to tell the people all these things. So the final word from God for Israel in Exodus 19 is simple but staggering, Do not come near! Conclusion: In our passage in Exodus, God was bringing His people close at Sinai, but the closer they came, the more His people knew the great distance between God and them. In that light, think of how great the gospel is?! Hebrews 12:18-24 makes this exact point. Listen to it, For you have not come towhat may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempestandthe sound of a trumpet and a voice whose wordsmade the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them.For they could not endure the order that was given,If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.Indeed,so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, I tremble with fear.But you have come toMount Zion and to the city of the living God,the heavenly Jerusalem, and toinnumerable angels in festal gathering,and tothe assemblyof the firstborn who areenrolled in heaven, and toGod, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect,and to Jesus,the mediator of a new covenant, and tothe sprinkled bloodthat speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. Simply put, in this passage we read of the excellency, glory, and advantage we have in the New Covenant in comparison to those in the Old Covenant. We have not come to another Mount Sinai that may not be touched, no, weve come to God through Christ, the perfect Mediator whose blood speaks a better word. Back then God met Israel at a mountain burning with fire, storms, and the prospect of death warning all who come near. Now God meets us in Christ and all who come near and believe will never die. Church, God is still God, and we ought never come into His presence casually, but now because of Christ we can come confidently. John Newton wrote a hymn about this called Let Us Love and Sing and Wonder. Ill end by reading some of it. Let us love and sing and wonder,Let us praise the Saviors name.He has hushed the laws loud thunder,He has quenched Mount Sinais flame Let us wonder grace and justice,Join and point to mercys store.When through grace in Christ our trust is,Justice smiles and asks no more. [1] Victor P. Hamilton, Exodus: An Exegetical Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2011) 307. [2] Philip Graham Ryken, Exodus PTWC (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2015) 463. [3] Ryken, 465. [4] John D. Currid, Exodus, vol. 2 (Grand Rapids, MI: EP Books, 2013) 22. [5] Douglas K. Stuart, Exodus NAC (Brentwood, TN: BH, 2006) 426. [6] Presumably, from heaven and not from anyone among Israel. [7] Hamilton, 306. [8] Stuart, 429, footnote 295. [9] John I. Durham, Exodus WBC (Waco, TX: Word Books, 1987) 273. [10] Ryken, 474-475, grateful for his words here, he captures the awe and wonder well.

The Covenantal Pattern

Watch at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsTlzG7OY_0

Worship & Wisdom

So in-laws, in-laws are always fun. So as we come this morning, some of you, if you are married or have been married, you marry into a family beyond your own, which comes with parents of someone else. And so usually it stirs up all sorts of emotions. Whether you like your in-laws, whether you have a contentious love-hate relationship with your in-laws, everyone kind of has their own different stories. Whether they are far away and you never talk to them, or you live with them for 40 plus years as our text today, you create a different relationship. So I have in-laws, I have a mother and father-in-law, and I love them, they're great. Joe is very handy, gives lots of great instruction, and is there to help me when I have no idea how to fix things, and he knows how to fix things. So years of carpentry and experience is very helpful. Just learning some of these things and is always there and willing and able to give a hand. So it's great to be able to hear the wisdom of others, so I am blessed in that way. Many of you may have similar experiences, others of you may have the opposite experience. But all these are part of the dynamics that God gives us in working out family relationships. And as we come to our text today, we are going to see one of the probably most intimate portraits of Moses interacting with someone besides God. Usually every occurrence that we have of Moses is he is in an authority role. He is usually leading. Today we will see one of the first times that he is not in many ways leading, or at least how we think of leadership. This is one of the times that we see him in a family role. It takes us all the way back to the beginning, back to Genesis 3 and 4, or 2, 3 and 4, where you have Moses fleeing Egypt, landing in Midian, and kind of being moved into this family of Jethro's, who will be his father-in-law, where he marries Zephora, he creates a family here, he becomes the shepherd overseeing his entire flock, Moses' new life that took place in Midian. All comes back to today. And so again, we are reminded as we move into our text, we've seen Moses over the last 14 chapters since then, leading the people, growing with the people as he's instructed them in what the Lord has called him to do, leading them out of Egypt towards the promised land and all the events that have transpired along the way. Two weeks ago we saw the defeat of the Amalekites, we saw some amazing works of God over the last few months unpacking this text, and here we come back once again to the area of Midian, roughly the same area that it all began at. Because as we come to the mount, Mount Sinai, the mountain of God, also referred to as Horeb, these all three are interchangeable terms for the area that he is approaching. This is the same place back in chapter 3 where God called him to go. So these are Moses' stomping grounds. This is not a new area to him. The Lord led him right back to where he sent him from. And it's to this land that we come, and it's to this that our story unfolds. So we have this very intimate portrait here of Moses with his father-in-law over a two-day period. Okay, so it's going to cover two days' time roughly in our text, as we'll see the celebration of worship that will flow from them, and then we will see the wisdom and the humility to receive wisdom in our text. So it's the two parts of our text that is before us. So even just some basic context for us so that we can dive into some of the deeper meanings here. There was lots of controversy whether or not this text even belongs in this section. Okay, there's going to be some things that you'll see. First of all, they're at Sinai. Well that's, we haven't, that starts in 19 they get to Sinai, so how are we at Sinai? Question one. So they're at Sinai. He's at the mountain of God already. Secondly, as we get further in the text, Moses' role is to give the people the instruction in law of the Lord, which Moses hasn't gotten the instruction in law of the Lord yet necessarily. We've got the Sabbath and we've got Passover, so we have some parts of what will become the full law. Okay, and so later he's told that that's his job, is to teach the people the law and statutes of the Lord. Okay, so many people will question whether or not it belongs to God. directly in this part, or if it technically belongs later in the text, if it's chronology. Okay, one of the highlights goes is not everything is chronological. So this is a thematic purpose that's showing us, I would agree, is this transition that is seen in this experience. So as we work through the text, we'll see worship is the first half of the text. So the first half of the text with Jethro is worship. It is celebrating the salvific work of God. The first half of the book of Exodus is celebrating the salvific work of God. The second half of the text is structure, organization, and purpose within wisdom. The second half of the book of Exodus, structure, purpose within the structure of wisdom. So how do we lead, grow, and follow God? Well, the law. What does the law flow from? Worship. So these things should be in conjunction together, and this is very much what we will see in our text together today with Jethro and Moses. And so the very first part we begin as we see these two things of law and gospel, if you will, is it begins with gospel and the worship and a boldness in worship in verses one through 12. I. Boldness in Worship And so the very beginning, again, begins with this long-awaited reunion in verses one through seven. So join me in the text as we read, Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses' father-in-law, heard all that God had done for Moses and for Israel, his people. How the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt. Now Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, had taken Zephora, Moses' wife, after he had sent her home, along with her two sons. The name of one was Gershom, for he said, I have been a sojourner in a foreign land, and the name of the other is Eleazar, for he said, the God of my father was my help and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh. Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife to Moses in the wilderness, where he was encamped at the mountain of God. And when he sent word to Moses, I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and your two sons with her, Moses went out to meet his father-in-law and bowed down and kissed him. And they asked each other of their welfare and went into the tent. So in case you were not aware, Jethro is Moses' father-in-law. In case you are questioning that, the text is very clear who Jethro is. So Jethro is Moses' father-in-law. So it begins to again, highlight their relationship. Okay, it echoes us back to chapter four. Okay, again, that early setup of who they are, their relationship, why is this someone Moses would listen to? Because he is his father-in-law. He has spent years, roughly 40 years. Okay, again, he fled Egypt at 40. Okay, and then he returned to Egypt at 80. That is 40 years he spent in the household of Jethro, a rule in the first text, as we saw it back in chapter two. So he spent 40 years under Jethro. And also, as we look at the history of Jethro, in many ways, probably is the closest thing he had to a real father figure. Again, he was grown up in Pharaoh's household as a prince where Pharaoh's daughter adopted him out of a river. So there's a whole context there that he probably didn't have a good father figure that helped him grow, especially in a different world. He's no longer a prince. He's now a shepherd. Your entire world has shifted. You have a new role, a new responsibility. Okay, it's very different living in the city to living in the country. You have to learn a whole new world. Okay, and this is very much what we saw with Moses. And so Jethro is an important aspect of his life. Again, especially in a herding nomadic culture, family is key. Family is essential. Okay, so we can see the highlights again and again, father-in-law, father-in-law, the role that Jethro has in his life, but also highlighting the respect Moses gives to that position. Okay, Jethro is one that he will listen to. Even if you go back to chapter four, God gives Moses this command to go to set his people free, to lead the people out of Israel. And even before he goes, he asks permission of Jethro whether or not he can leave. He goes to his father-in-law, and he asks in 418, Moses went back to Jethro immediately afterward, his father-in-law, Clee, and said to him, please let me go back to my brothers in Egypt to see whether they are still alive. And Jethro said to Moses, go in peace. He releases him from his family to go back to lead the people out. So again, even there, he submitted himself to the authority placed over him, asking permission to leave at which time he does. So we also see in our text is clearly Jethro is keeping tabs on what's going on. Jethro heard all that had happened to Moses, which again, that's someone who loves his family. You're probably a little like, well, you're gonna go back to Egypt to try to set your people free. Seems like a tall order. Okay, I'm gonna try to keep some tabs on what's going on through the. Nomadic grapevine, hit the news as it comes. How are things going? Probably heard some rumors. Again, I'm sure some crazy stuff going down in Egypt. You're probably going to hear some rumors of what's going on. Hearing these things, we have this picture of Jethro keeping tabs on him, also taking care of Moses' wife and kids. So again, the last time we saw Zivora, okay, was the weird tent incident with cutting foreskins and throwing blood. We don't really know what happened after that. That's where it ended. So somewhere in that time frame, she and the sons went back to Midian. Again, the assumption is clearly Moses entering Egypt. After all this goes, this is probably not the best situation for my family to be in. Okay, again, I'm going to stand up to Pharaoh. There's a lot that can come with this. It's probably better if she waits for me back home. Okay, so Zivora goes home with the boys and spends time in Midian with her father. Again, our exact timeline, there's lots of guesses. This could be anywhere from six months to a year, depending on how long the ten plagues took. Lots of questions on how long those took and the gaps between them. But we're probably looking six months to a year between Moses leaving Midian and now returning to the mountain of God. Okay, and in this we see this love that they experience together. They greet one another with joy. Okay, as Jethro sends a messenger, that's an idea that he sent someone to tell him that he was coming, preparing the way for Jethro and the family to reunite with Moses. That I, it's not just some weird informer like, I am telling you I am coming as I'm talking to you. He sent a messenger to proclaim his coming. He is coming to be with Moses again, to spend time together, to reflect on what is happening. I think to a degree to get a firsthand account. There's one thing to hear people talk about what's going on. It's different to go and see what has gone on. It's different to just get the exact word from the one who led. What exactly has transpired? And so we see this picture of the family reuniting as Moses, his family joins together here at Horeb. And Moses receives him with joy, bows down to him, kisses him, and is just experiencing that family relationship renewed in that moment of just humbling himself before his father-in-law. And then they just talk about what is life. There's just that natural overflows like, how you doing? It just feels like a weird moment. And they just ask each other about each other's well-being. That's how the text goes. They just asked about your well-being. How are things? How's the family? How's the kids doing still? You took care of them? How's the wife? How's the sheep doing? Maybe ask about a sheep. What's his favorite sheep? How's he doing? Still doing good? So there's just this very family-oriented moment. Which again, the height thing, you just came off a battle. You've got all this and it's just a natural day of family hanging out. We haven't seen each other for a while. What's going on? Just catching up. Catching up with all the affairs that are going on. And I think there's a wonderful picture again of Moses's humility that we get to see here. Again, when Moses left, he was just shepherding Jethro's sheep. That was his job. He had a family, had sheep. That's what he did. He went to Egypt. Now he comes back as the leader of 600,000 plus people. He's got an army. They've defeated the Amalekites maybe not that long ago. He's risen very high very fast. And yet even in that, he has love and respect for his father-in-law. For the family that he is a part of. That he bows down and kisses him and welcomes him as family. Hearing him well and having just this moment, small talk, which then flows into this glorious moment of gospel proclamation. So from their beginning, so they have their small talk. They begin with their normal. How are things? How is the family? What's going on? And then we see this transition from small talk to proclamation in 8 through 9. Then Moses told his father-in-law all that the Lord had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel's sake. All the hardship that had come upon them in the way. And how the Lord had delivered them. And Jethro rejoiced for all the good that the Lord had done to Israel. In that he had delivered them out of the hand of the Egyptians. So immediately from this basic introduction of welfare, they come into the tent. And Moses just utters out all the great things that the Lord has done. How the Lord has been with them. How the Lord did all the things that he said he would do. And he brought them back to the mountain. If you remember back in... Chapter 4 the proof that God was with him is that he would one day return to this mountain. The circle is complete He has returned the sign that God was faithful Even in those little signs he can now rejoice all the more of how God is good how God is Faithful and also the good and the bad they experienced on the way There were struggles Moses doesn't lead out leave out the struggles of the trip It says he expressed the good and the bad they experienced the hardships that came upon them It was not an easy road to get back to Sinai There were struggles there were hardships. There were complaints. There were grumblings There was the mighty work of God each and every time But as the leader, we've seen Moses struggled often through the whole leading was not always easy But God was with them the whole time. It's the Lord who saved them out of slavery He is the one who brought them through the Red Sea when it looked like there was no hope at the water Gave manna when they had no food Water from a rock when they had no water to drink and as the Amalekites attacked them from the rear God gave victory over them Through the staff that God had given to him. The Lord is the one who did it all Again even in that we see humility as Moses does not credit himself with having anything to do with getting here The Lord is the one who saw them through every hardship. I Didn't do it. The Lord did each and every one of these events So to in our own lives do we think about how often we tell people? The good news of what the Lord is doing in our lives Do we take the opportunity to express the gospel the good news of what the Lord has done this week this month? When you spend time with family, do you express what the Lord is doing? Do you take that opportunity to proclaim as Moses does in this moment? The father all the good things the Lord has done in the past year Especially those who have maybe those family reunions. Those are still a thing. I'm told I've not been a part of one. Apparently my extended family does them one day. We may apparently do one We'll see but that picture of like the family reunion in those moments Do you express what God has done this year or since the last meeting opportunities? Again, those small moments to proclaim the good news of the gospel in your life. This is what Moses doing He's expressing to Jethro everything that the Lord has done Highlighting time and time again the glorious work of God who has saved them He did not take them out of Egypt God Yahweh the Lord took them out of Egypt. The Lord took us out of Sin and death and the slavery that bound us It was not our doing it was his majestic work. And do we make enough of a deal about that? Or is it simply the thing that has passed and we've moved on to other things? This is an opportunity for us to remember even here Moses the great leader people gives all honor and glory to God Even in a family atmosphere with a priest of Midian Again, as we highlighted way back in the day, he would have had an understanding of who God was But he's a priest of Midian, which is a very polytheistic religion. They worshipped many different gods And so he is proclaiming Boli the one true God who has saved them Saved them Yahweh has saved them. The Lord is the one at work And so he extols it to him and makes it plain to his father-in-law where their salvation has come from That it was the Lord This is not a secondhand account. This is Moses who walked through the water With his people who saw the Lord rain manna from heaven Who struck a rock and water flowed from it? Who simply raised his arms over a valley and victory came? God is the one who did all these and so he proclaims this gospel with boldness to Jethro and from there we see an overflow then of a bold response in worship from Jethro So Jethro responds in verses 10 through 12 Blessed be the Lord again Yahweh not blessed be Yahweh who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians Out of the hand of Pharaoh and has delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians Now, I know that the Lord is greater than all gods because in this affair they dealt arrogantly with the people and Jethro Moses father-in-law brought a burnt offering and Sacrifices to God and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses father-in-law before God And so upon hearing the good news upon hearing the amazing story that Moses is told about the work of Yahweh Jethro just is overwhelmed and proclaims glory. Blessed be the Lord. Blessed be Yahweh. May He be praised because He has delivered you. He's done all that He said He would do and far more. The gospel proclamation has transformed His perspective and so He praises God. He's delivered you out of the hands, out of the hand of Pharaoh, has delivered the people from under the hand of you. Now I know that the Lord is greater. These words are echoed in full in Psalm 135. The Hebrew is the exact same. So Jethro's phrasing here, I know that the Lord is greater than all gods, that phrase is directly 135.5. The Hebrew is exactly the same which we've highlighted Psalm 135 several times because it does tell the story of the exodus. It tells God's work of leading the people out. The Hebrew here is the same Hebrew structure. So Jethro's words are echoed in that psalm. God is a God amongst all gods which has even a greater height here as we see once again the reality of him being a priest of Midian. He is a religious leader who has sacrificed too many gods and here in light of all that he's heard, all his testament, God is truly the only great God. No god compares to him. Again, in a day and age where many gods were seen in view, God is supreme. They have nothing on Yahweh. And even as you read verse 11, it's a weird, the English cleans it up a lot. The Hebrew is a disjointed mess if you will. A lot of words here are added for clarification. Okay, as you read it, now the Lord is greater because in this affair he dealt arrogantly with the people. The actual Hebrew is because he dealt arrogantly. So lots of questions on who has dealt arrogantly, where. The general construction again is the idea, is it the Egyptians who have dealt arrogantly? Is it the gods who have dealt arrogantly? Depending on how your, my Hebrew scholars probably can pull out their Bibles right now and come up with a whole breakdown of what they think it is. But it's a lot of questions. Again, as a priest, that idea of one who has a polytheistic view, the general assumption then is actually saying, because the gods of Egypt dealt arrogantly with you, the God of Israel destroyed them. Kind of this picture. Because he's praising how great God is over their gods. So their gods were nothing. They thought they could destroy you. And yet each and every one we've seen up to this point, God showed was nothing compared to him. So again, we echo back how we went through the ten plagues, each of the plagues kind of targeting different deities in Egypt. This here then is Jethro echoing that same thing. Now we can clearly see that Yahweh is the only true God. These other gods acted arrogantly towards you and were of nothing. That when come face to face with you, their power was of no ability. And so he highlights his strength above them. That the Lord is greater than all gods. There's nothing that can compare to him. And so after hearing this, he's just so overwhelmed by these truths. That he's worshiping God. He worships the Lord. He's convinced that the Lord alone is true and worthy. That this testimony has clarified in full all that he had thought. And so he brings the sacrifice. So again, the idea he already had a sacrifice in mind, but now there's a fullness to it. It's a reflection on all that God has done. And so he prepares a sacrifice in worship of God for salvation. It's an offering of thanksgiving. And the whole leadership joins in. So you have Aaron joins with him. Aaron and the elders all come together for this feast. It's a feast to worship the work of the Lord. So they worship. In boldness, this pagan priest, the father-in-law of Moses, has seen and behold the glory of God. That none is compared to him. Offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving and worship. And brings Moses and the family and his leaders together to worship God in light of all that has transpired. This is very key, especially as we're about to transition. The next time we really see any sacrifice worship with the people, it is not in a positive context. We're going to take a little bit of a hike for a bit and then we're going to get to the golden calf. The next sign of worship is not to worship the greatness of the salvation of God, but to create their own mini-God to represent God. But here we have this wonderful moment of a family reunited celebrating the good gift that God was faithful. So from the mountain he left and from the mountain he has returned, God's sign is fulfilled. And then the worship. If you will take Midian as a nation, one of the nations will join in a worship of God. It's a beautiful transition of this moment in this camp of just celebrating God for his salvific work. And it's from that experience of the gospel, that bold worship of the gospel, that then will lead into the second half of the text as we begin to unpack this humility in wisdom. II. Humility in Wisdom Because we'll get to the next day. There's a high. There's a great mountain high here. We just celebrated what God had done. There's worship. There's a massive feast. This is a great day. But every great day is followed by a work day. So Moses is back to work. It was a great day. We had fun. Everyone enjoyed. Monday's still gonna be here tomorrow. So our text doesn't shy away from it. Here we go. We're back to work the next day. In verses 13 through 18, with a simple observation, we have the next day Moses sat to judge the people. So we are back at it. And the people stood around Moses from morning till evening. When Moses' father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, what is this that you are doing for the people? Why do you sit alone and all the people stand around you from morning till evening? And Moses said to his father-in-law, because the people come to me to inquire of God. When they have a dispute, they come to me and I decide between one person another and I make them known the statutes of God and his laws. Moses' father-in-law said to him, why are you doing what you are doing is not good. You and the people with you will certainly wear yourselves out for the thing is too heavy for you. You are not able to do it alone. So as we have our text, we now move into the next part and it's the simple observation of a father-in-law watching how his son-in-law is leading. So how are you doing it? How are you leading the people? Massive celebration followed by simple observation. And from morning till evening, Moses judged the people. Just daily settling disputes, time and time again working through issues. And so we see the fact that Moses had a very busy day. Okay, Moses wasn't just a leader who sat back in his tent and waited for God to call upon him. Okay, I feel like this is how most people think pastoral ministry is. We just sit in our offices with Bibles open and go ah for like 40 hours a week and then we preach a sermon and it's great. Like there's a lot of work. Like there's work, there's people, there's life, there's doing it together. Moses wasn't just waiting at the house of God for the Lord to speak to him. He had work to do in leading and caring for the people from morning till evening. He cared for the people. 600,000 plus people and Moses by himself working. So stressful. As you can see why he was always so stressed up to this point. So he's doing it all alone, day in, day out. He's teaching, he's solving problems, he's managing. This is a very busy guy and he's in his 80s. There is a work of the Lord in here, clearly. But he is doing these things and wearing himself out and so his father-in-law is greatly concerned. He says what you are doing is not good. Like this is not wise. It's the picture. Because it's not good for you and it's not good for them. Because can one man solve 600,000 problems in a day? No. That is a morning till evening. Like just constant people. Problem after problem after. Again clearly not all 600,000 people have problems but I'm sure there's quite a bit that's going on. That day in and day out all you're doing is problems and you don't get to all of them because there's more and there's more. So everyone's waiting forever. Again welcome to a judicial system. So everyone's just waiting for an answer and you don't even have 12 courts you just got one. This is a long time to deal with things. And so Jethro is very wise in this moment, greatly concerned. And so in this though even Moses's response is simply ultimately like but this is what I do. This is what I do. Someone has to teach the people. So well that clearly is me. God has spoken to me. God's given me the... so my job is to teach the people. Who else is going to intercede and work for them? Well I'm the one who speaks to God so I guess I'm the one who does it. How do we apply the law as it's been taught? Well again Moses falls in the trap that most leaders do which is it's easier to do it myself than to delegate to other people because I know what I'm doing so I will just do it. It's a very easy trap that leadership falls into. I just do it all myself. Honestly those who have been here long enough, this is what I fall into often. I'll just do it myself. It is not wise or healthy clearly as scripture points out. We delegate authority, as we will see here, as God will instruct through Jethro. And so Moses just goes through the motion. I don't even think it's necessarily a pride issue. It's just that you get trapped in a cycle of just doing it because you're doing it. So you're going to keep doing it because you don't think of another way out. So you just keep going. And sometimes it takes a wise person to tell you to stop. This is not good for you and it's not good for them. Because in many ways, you could see Moses thinking he's helping them. If I'm doing it, I don't have to burden other people. And ultimately, he's highlighting you are causing a greater burden than you even know. And so he doesn't seek help. What's interesting, I even find, is that Aaron's not even involved. Like, his brother's not even involved. It's just Moses. The guy who's supposed to be talking and being like a mediator with him is out to lunch somewhere, apparently. And it's just Moses. This is all I do. The family itself isn't even helping. And so it very much is a good fatherly moment where Jethro pulls him aside and has an honest conversation. You will lose it and so will they. And we will see that happen in numbers. But there is that picture of, like, you will lose your mind if you do this continually. And the people will become even more frustrated. Because if you're number 800 in line, you're very frustrated that your issues aren't being solved. And you probably are very hatred of the 799 in front of you who have stupid problems that aren't as bad as your problem. And if they could just get out of the way, it's like a traffic light. If you guys just move, I can solve my issues. Like, that becomes a picture. This is not good for the people. It's not good for the community. It's not good for Moses. This is not wise leadership. And so he will give him, in this moment, wisdom. What you are doing is not a good choice. You cannot bear the weight of the whole nation, nor is Moses meant to. That is not Moses' job to carry the people. So we've seen this is what God is doing. God is the one who is in charge. God is the one who cares, ultimately, for each of the 600,000 plus souls in Israel. Moses is called to lead them. God is the one who ultimately will care for them and see them to the end, as he has already done. Moses is simply to lead, listen, and follow as he has been directed. And so we see the delegation begins to form in his father's mind. He's going to highlight how Moses can do this better for his own good and for the good of others. This is also why it's important that we don't have solo pastor ministries. It's not a one-man show. Now, there are many churches that very much are all about the one man. It's like, you just do it all for us. You figure it out. We pay you. You make it work. You don't need help. You don't need assistance. You probably don't even need to get paid. It's fine. Just make it work. There is a whole movement that exists within American Christianity where that is an understanding. You can hop on a church forum for about 30 seconds and you find those people that are very angry that pastors have assistants and elders and other people. That's what we pay you for. Solve our problems. That is this arrogance where it's one man cares for the weight of all. Jethro very much, as we will see here, highlights what we will see throughout Scripture is that it's not a one person show. The weight is carried by many. We carry it together for the purpose of the good of one another and the good of the whole community. Elders bear the weight together to love you well and so that you are loved well. So that you have a place to go with your burdens. And so this begins the wisdom of a father. So verses 19 to 23, Jethro has already said this is not wise. So he doesn't just leave him with you're doing a bad thing. That's always a fun system. Everything you're doing is wrong. Okay. How do we fix it? Not my problem. Just this is bad. Anyone who has worked in a leadership setting, maybe in a corporate experience, harsh criticism, everything is bad. How do we fix it? Not my job. Okay. Well, thank you for your criticism. Jethro isn't just coming to throw fire at the whole thing to say that Moses is messed up and then leaves him. Here is a better way. I'm not just going to tell you why you're doing it wrong. I'm going to tell you what a better way is. His years of experience have pointed him in this direction. Now obey my voice. I will give you advice and God be with you. So even at the beginning, calling Moses to listen to him, but also highlighting that this will be the work of God. God being with you. will cause these things to flourish is the understanding. I'll give you advice, but it's only successful if God is in it. You shall represent the people before God. Bring their case to God, and you shall warn them about the statutes and the laws. Make them know the way in which they must walk and what they must do. Moreover, look for able men from all the people, men who fear God, who are trustworthy. Hate and hate a bribe, and place such men over the people as chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens, and let them judge the people at all times. Every great matter shall bring to you, but any small matter they shall decide themselves. So it'll be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you. If you do this, God will direct you. You will be able to endure, and all the people also will go to their place in peace. And so he calls Moses to listen, and he gives them wise advice. Here's how to do this better. Yes, your job is to lead the people. You are to speak to God on behalf of the people. You are to instruct the people. Again, you have the word from the Lord. Depending on where this is, you've gone to the mountain, or are gonna go to the mountain, and you're gonna get all the laws. You're gonna spend a lot of time getting laws. You have an entire book called Deuteronomy, where we're gonna have three sermons on all the law. Moses is the man who knows the whole thing. He has the plan. Jethro doesn't deny that. That is your role, is to lead the people well in its teaching. So teach them, okay? Represent them before God. Bring the whole's complaint to God. As the whole has an issue, you bring the whole to God. Make their case to God, while also warning them how to live. So big picture, you are big picture. And then from that big picture, appoint able men. What's interesting, so his wise counsel is very similar to what we have in the New Testament. There is one qualification for ability, and that's simply able. Again, New Testament, we have the desire to do these things, and able to teach, we see in the eldership. And the rest is character. It's all character-driven. Are these men of character that you trust, that can be trusted? So do they have the ability? First, you need to have the ability. But after that, do they fear God? So you need to choose men who fear God, that they have a love for the Lord and fear Him. Then are they trustworthy? Do you trust their words? When you ask their advice, or when they give advice, do you trust what they're saying is of sound wisdom? They're not just making it up, that they're trustworthy. And then the fourth, that they're not swayed by money. They can't be bribed. These are men of perfect character, that they will not sway their judgment simply because you offer them money. These are the characteristics of a good leader in Israel. These are the men Moses is to find. Find the ones with skill, but ultimately that they fear God, they're trustworthy, and they are not swayed by money. And the one not directly, and it's made up of all the people. This is not picking one tribe to do all the work either. This isn't just, well, we're gonna pick Judah. Judah's gonna do the work. Okay, we'll have the Levites do the priestly roles here later. But this is a work for judging all the people. So it's supposed to be made up of all the people. So people even in there. Each tribe is represented in the work. Okay, each tribe is a part of the process. Okay, no tribe favored over the other. And once you break it down, this is a massive leadership structure. For someone who loves math, I bet you can spend 10 seconds, and this is not a small number of men. Okay, it went from Moses to now you have 600 people over 1,000. If you're just doing 600,000. Now again, there's more, but if you just wanna take that number. 600 men to be appointed over 1,000. 6,000 men would be appointed over hundreds if these break out, which is the question. 12,000 men over 50s. 60,000 men over 10s. This is a very big leadership structure. So that is a lot more people than one. It's a lot of delegation. And it says that he does it willfully, willingly here in a moment. But that's the picture. So there are lots now of points. So you have lots of places you can go to when you are having problems. In many ways, we see this as a judicial system. America's loosely based on this. So it builds up the route. If the 10 can't figure it out, you go to the 50s. If the 50 can't figure it out, you go to the hundreds. You just can't figure out, work your way up to Moses, and then Moses is the final arbiter between God and them. Okay, so there's that picture that your case is heard. Okay, if you're having a struggle, and there's only 10 other people in this group, if you think of it, those who are aware of how we do shepherding groups, okay, we try to keep roughly somewhere between 15 to 20 family units in a shepherding group to one elder. Okay, so if you have an issue, it's not that hard that your elder isn't tackling, like, well, I've got the whole church that I'm dealing with, I'll get to your, we have flexibility, because we have small numbers. The smaller number allows easier access. So again, 10 people, easy access. 50 people, still not bad access, and so on and so forth, point. So this allows them to be well-governed, also well-instructed. So again, as Moses teaches, understand that these leaders would be receiving the same instruction, they fear the Lord, they're hearing it, that's where they base their judgments on, the everyday occurrences, they are able to mitigate the problems. This is their job. And so this is how they work, with God ultimately being the final arbiter. If God is with it, it will succeed, becomes pretty much Moses' point, or Jethro's point. God will be with you. If you do this, God will direct you, you will be able to endure, and all the people will be in peace. You'll have a place to go, they will be heard, they will be able to work through their problems together, and you will be able to spend time with the Lord. If the Lord is with it, it will be successful. And so this becomes the picture. Now again, we'll see another layer of leadership added in numbers, again, once we get to numbers 12, where all of these things that we see at the beginning of Exodus that are positive begin to break down in numbers. Life happens, new generation, we have a breakdown. We'll have a leadership breakdown in 12, where God then will appoint 70 leaders through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and through prophetic work in that text. It's a different leadership group than this one. Okay, so this is the first one. We'll have 70 specific elders as the Holy Spirit pours out in numbers. Okay, it's a different leadership, different grouping, for a different purpose, which will again, we'll see the judgment and curses that come with that. So if you read numbers, we've kind of highlighted all these parallels over the last like three weeks. They're all parallel events that happen in numbers that show them ultimately coming to the same problems and then curses that are poured out because we've already fixed this once. God is sovereign. You aren't trusting God anymore by the time we get to numbers. So that begins the work there. And the beauty of our text is that Moses receives this well. Moses isn't arrogant. He does not ultimately see that he is the only one. He hears the voice of Jethro and listens. So Moses listened to the voice of his father-in-law. Jethro asked him to obey. Moses is obeying. He hears it, he is wise, it is good, and he did it. And did all that he said. Moses chose able men out of all of Israel and made them heads over the people, chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. And they judged the people at all times. Any hard cases they brought to Moses, but any small matter they decided themselves. Then Moses let his father-in-law depart and he went away to his own country. So the final mark we see of Moses is of humbly listening and heeding the voice of Jethro, for it was a good word. Again, it's that final intimate picture of Moses that he is not, does not see himself as the final arbiter of all that is great. This man has led a nation out, and yet the voice of his father-in-law carries weight. He is not arrogant, he is not prideful, he is not boastful. He does not need to carry the whole weight. And he hears it and receives it well. It's the, I will obey the voice of my father-in-law. He does not disregard the voice of an elder. Simply because he is old, he does not regard him as of little value, but of one worthy of listening. And again, Jethro's plan is sound. It is sound wisdom. And Moses weighs it well. To carry the weight on his own was not good. He probably felt it. It's only been like three months at this point of leading the people. We've already seen some big issues. And so Moses, or Jethro's advice probably came as a refreshing drink of water. This is good. This is what I've been looking for. I just didn't know what I needed. Sometimes you don't know how to do it until someone tells you how to do it. Simple. Otherwise, you're just making it up. I'll just figure it out as I go. When there is great advice and wisdom from those who have been there before, again, the glory of the church, those who have walked the path before are there to help us walk the path today. The echo of what, the introduction to 2 Corinthians. Why did Paul, in the Apostle's time, suffer, so that they may be a comfort to those in their suffering, to bestow the wisdom of what they've experienced. And so in being able to receive that wisdom well is a good mark of a healthy believer. And so Moses receives it well, implements it immediately, and we get the picture that they judged them all the day, and they did at all times. They went to work. They weren't begrudging about it either. The picture is the able men were excited to do the work, and they did it joyfully, continually. They continually cared for the needs of the people, freeing Moses up to deal with the hard issues. Again, there's going to be hard issues. There's going to be things to work through. As you work through the whole law, there are things to discuss in how to go to God and how implementing it. Even today we have many people that question, how does this law work itself out? If you read the book of Leviticus, there's tons of questions, let alone being right there. Moses had the answer for them. Go to God and work through it. That was the picture. And so a good leader will care for the people, but also will mind their own souls. This is a great mark of humility, seeing that they are not the end all, be all. Leading with humility and wisdom. A leader seeks good wisdom. We do not know how everything works. I don't have all the answers. I'm sorry. It's not going to happen. So we have the gospel and we have a team, and that is again the glory of a team of elders. We are blessed here at Sunrise, as Adam highlighted even with the Miseo Collective, that we have a group of men dedicated to loving you well and one another. We also have the joy of other churches, other men and women who have worked through different life situations that can speak into our lives. This past summer, or this past spring, I spent eight weeks in a cohort learning on how to be an administrative and executive pastor. Helpful to learn from other guys who have done it for 20, 30 plus years. It's helpful to hear instruction that you don't learn normally. It's good to be under people teaching you, specifically if you know an issue you're working through. Find someone to help you through that specific area. Moses clearly had a leadership structure problem. Jethro helped him see how to make it better. And so this whole thing, though, flows ultimately from the work that God has been doing the whole time in building Israel into who they are going to be. It's another step in God strengthening the people. So we have this picture of the gospel at work. It's why the text begins with, I think, the proclamation of the gospel. Jethro comes, hears, and rejoices at the gospel. This truly is the Lord. Moses isn't afraid to proclaim the gospel. This is truly the work of the Lord. And in that proclamation, we then see God lead him to hear, Moses to hear well, then the recommendation of his father-in-law on how to organize the people well. That he can love them well. That he can highlight and teach them the gospel and the law well. Because he could not do it if he was by himself. It was setting him up to lead the people well in the word of the Lord. If you're going to dedicate yourself to the teaching and admonition of the word, you need the time to do it, so you need other men to do other things. Also very much what we see in Acts 6. Why deacons exist is so that the apostles could focus on prayer and the teaching of the word. Other people can handle other problems. This is our job, to pray and to teach. That was Moses' job. So other men are tasked with the rest. So this is a great observation of the church. How the church functions. How we love one another well, even through structures. Structure isn't bad. Structure is there to help you. It shows you where to go when things go wrong. Who do I talk to? Who is my elder? Hopefully, you all know who your elder is, who is called to shepherd you. If you are a member here and you do not know, come talk to me. I will tell you. And then we can talk to them together. We will see how that helps you grow. We grow together in the work of the Lord for your benefit and so the whole church can grow together.